2008 PLA Conference
PLA Missions Beyond Taiwan
Leading specialists from academe, government, the military, and policy think-tanks convened from September 28–30, 2008 for the nineteenth annual People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Conference, “PLA Missions Beyond Taiwan.”
Conference participants sought to look beyond the PLA’s primary focus on Taiwan in order to explore China’s other military missions and objectives, including disaster and humanitarian relief, United Nations peacekeeping operations (UNPKO), counterterrorism and border defense, and outer space and cyberspace security.
The conference’s primary objectives were to examine the interplay between China’s armed forces and its increasingly complex foreign policy and international security environment in order to understand the requirements of several emerging PLA missions, and to consider how these specific interactions affect policy toward the wider Asia-Pacific region.
Conference Publications and Book Launch
- Beyond the Strait: PLA Missions Other Than Taiwan, edited by Roy Kamphausen, David Lai, and Andrew Scobell (Strategic Studies Institute, 2009)
- 2008 PLA Conference Colloquium Brief: PLA Missions Beyond Taiwan by Marc Miller. (NBR and the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College, December 2008)
Book Launch Event Agenda and Audio
WELCOME, INTRODUCTION, AND KEYNOTE
Welcome and introduction
Richard Bush, The Brookings Institution
Army War College greetings
Steven Metz, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College
Bush School greetings
Andrew Scobell, Texas A&M
PANEL PRESENTATIONS
Chair and Overview
Roy Kamphausen, The National Bureau of Asian Research
How China Manages Internal Security Challenges and its Impact on PLA Missions
Murray Scot Tanner, CNA
PLA Missions in Frontier Security and Counterterrorism
Robert Modarelli, National Center for APEC
Prospects for China’s Military Space Efforts
Dean Cheng, CNA
China’s Regional Power Projection: Prospects for Future Missions in the South and East China Seas
Mark Cozad, U.S. Government
PLA ‘Joint’ Operational Contingencies in South Asia, Central Asia, and Korea
Larry Wortzel, Colonel, US Army, Retired
Commentators
David Lai, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College
Dennis Wilder, John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution
CLOSING REMARKS
Richard Bush, The Brookings Institution