China Security World Security Institute 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW Washington, D.C. 20036 China Security Chen Shi China Research Group Vol 5 No 1 Winter 2009 A Journal of China’s Strategic Choices Suite 2480 Sunflower Tower 37 Maizidian St., Chaoyang District Beijing, 100125 The PLA Navy Sets Sail David Lai . Peter Dutton . Richard Weitz New inking on Taiwan? www.chinasecurity.us Xin Qiang Steven Goldstein Alan Wachman Legality and Legitimacy: ASAT Test Vol 5 No 1 Winter 2009 5 No Vol Li Juqian Nuclear NFU Revisited Peng Guangqian & Rong Yu ISSN 1935-5564 ChinaSecurity Bruce G. Blair Publisher Eric Hagt Editor Chen Yali, Liu Yong, Matthew Durnin Associate Editors Assistant Editors Josh Baughman & Izumi Devalier Copy Editors Ron Hinrichs & Suzanne Ostrofsky Editorial Board Richard K. Betts Columbia University Thomas J. Christensen Princeton University Philip Coyle World Security Institute Lowell Dittmer University of California, Berkeley Bates Gill Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Theresa Hitchens World Security Institute Joan Johnson-Freese Naval War College Albert Keidel Carnegie Endowement for International Peace Nicholas R. Lardy Institute for International Economics Li Bin Tsinghua University John J. Mearsheimer University of Chicago Mike M. Mochizuki George Washington University Michael E. O’Hanlon Brookings Institution Jonathan D. Pollack Naval War College Shen Dingli Fudan University Shi Yinhong Renmin University of China Teng Jianqun China Arms Control & Disarmament Association Frank von Hippel Princeton University Alan M. Wachman Tufts University Xue Lan Tsinghua University Yuan Peng China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations Zha Daojiong Peking University Cover Design by Ameer S. Mashkour This issue was made possible through the generous support of the Ford Foundation, Secure World Foundation and the Robert and Ardis James Foundation ChinaSecurity Contents Bruce G. Blair Publisher Eric Hagt Editor Chen Yali, Liu Yong, Matthew Durnin Associate Editors 3 Chinese Military Going Global David Lai Assistant Editors 11 Josh Baughman & Izumi Devalier Charting a Course: US-China Cooperation at Sea Peter A. Dutton Copy Editors 27 Operation Somalia: China’s First Expeditionary Force Ron Hinrichs & Suzanne Ostrofsky Richard Weitz 45 Editorial Board Legality and Legitimacy: China’s ASAT Test Richard K. Betts Columbia University Li Juqian Thomas J. Christensen Princeton University Philip Coyle World Security Institute 55 Mainland China’s Taiwan Policy Adjustments Lowell Dittmer University of California, Berkeley Bates Gill Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Xin Qiang Theresa Hitchens World Security Institute 67 Joan Johnson-Freese Naval War College China and Taiwan: Signs of Change in Cross-Strait Relations Albert Keidel Carnegie Endowement for International Peace Steven M. Goldstein Nicholas R. Lardy Institute for International Economics Li Bin Tsinghua University 73 Old Thinking Dominates “New Thinking” John J. Mearsheimer University of Chicago Mike M. Mochizuki George Washington University Alan M. Wachman Michael E. O’Hanlon Brookings Institution 81 Jonathan D. Pollack Naval War College Nuclear No-First-Use Revisited Shen Dingli Fudan University Rong Yu & Peng Guangqian Shi Yinhong Renmin University of China Teng Jianqun China Arms Control & Disarmament Association Getting Out of the Shade: Solar Energy as a National Security Strategy 91 Frank von Hippel Princeton University Julian L. Wong Alan M. Wachman Tufts University Xue Lan Tsinghua University China’s “Realpolitik” Engagement with Myanmar 105 Yuan Peng China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations Pak K. Lee, Gerald Chan & Lai-Ha Chan Zha Daojiong Peking University Cover Design by Ameer S. Mashkour This issue was made possible through the generous support of the Ford Foundation, Secure World Foundation and the Robert and Ardis James Foundation Celebrating 82 Years Isn’t it time to subscribe? Do you need to know more about current affairs in Asia and the Pacific? We offer up-to-date and in-depth analyses of the most important issues. Pacific Affairs Declining Risk and State-Multinational Bargaining: Japanese Automobile Investments in India, Indonesia, and Malaysia Ali Nizamuddin Borrowing the Hong Kong Identity for Chinese Diplomacy: Implications of Margaret Chan’s World Health Organization Campaign Simon Shen Ethnographic Studies of Voting among the Austronesian Paiwan —The Role of Paiwan Chiefs in Contemporary State System of Taiwan Kun-hui Ku Employment Problems with Irregular Workers Joonmo Cho in Korea: A Critical Approach to Government GiSeung Kim Policy Taehee Kwon Myanmar: Prospects and Perils for the Military Junta Bruce Matthews Review Article Vol. 81, No. 3 Book Review Fall 2008 An International Review of Asia and the Pacific Other Recent Titles: Time-Space Punctuation: Hong Kong’s Border Regime and Limits on Mobility by Alan Smart and Josephine Smart The Forest for the Trees: Trade, Invetment and the China-in-Africa Discourse by Barry Sautman and Yan Hairong Immigration from China to Canada in the Age of Globalization: Issues of Brain Gain to Brain Loss by Peter S. Li Jathika Hela Urumaya and Ethno-Religious Politics in Sri Lanka by Neil DeVotta and Jason Stone North Korean Market Vendors: The Rise of Grassroots Capitalists in a Post-Stalinist Society by Andrei Lankov and Kim Seok-hyang --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Published Quarterly: Annual Subscription Rates - Vol. 82* Print & Electronic-Individuals $ 150; Institutions $ 260 Print or Electronic-Individuals $ 100; Institutions $ 205 Surface Postage included - Add $35 for Airmail *For Subscribers Outside Canada - Rates are in U.S. Dollars or equivalent funds 10% Discount for a 2 year subscription For more information please view our website: www.pacificaffairs.ubc.ca Email: Telephone: 604-822-4534 Fax: 604-822-9452 David Lai Chinese Military Going Global David Lai t is no longer speculation. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) made Iits debut in the world arena on Dec. 26, 2008. On this day, the PLA dispatched two navy battleships and a supply vessel to protect Chinese merchant vessels from Somali pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden. This contingency fleet is a small addition to the multinational naval forces already in the pirate-infested waters. However, it is a significant step in the PLA’s new mission in the 21st century and China’s march to become a “fully-functional” world power in international security affairs. A Mission for the New Century The PLA’s move to go global is a natural outgrowth of China’s expanding power. In the early decades of the People’s Republic, domestic national security concerns over- shadowed any economic interests China may have had abroad. With China at odds with the United States, the Soviet Union and many of its neighbors in the heyday of the Cold War, the PLA’s sole mission was to protect China on the home front. In the past, Chinese leaders argued that using military force abroad was imperial conduct. They criticized the United States’ military presence in many parts of the world and the force it projected in international affairs, meanwhile proudly proclaim- ing that China did not have a single soldier deployed on foreign soil. These views, however, started to change when China’s national interests expanded and became David Lai is a research professor of Asian Security Studies at the Strategic Studies Institute of the United States Army War College. China Security, Vol. 5 No. 1 Winter 2009, pp. 3-9 World Security Institute China Security Vol. 5 No. 1 Winter 2009 3 Chinese Military Going Global closely tied to events beyond its borders. Indeed, China is now the world’s third larg- est economy (trailing the United States and Japan) and third largest trading nation (behind the United States and about to surpass Germany); its products are reaching every corner of the world. At the same time, China has also become heavily reliant on the outside world for much of its natural resources and energy supply. The flow of these vital commodities or “life supplies of China,” mostly comes by sea, with over 90 percent of China’s trade and energy supply delivered by sea transport. However, this dependency on ocean-borne commerce comes with increased vulnerabilities to pirate attacks, blockades from hostile nations and even natural disasters. Moreover, from the outset of this century, Chinese business has moved aggressively overseas to invest in and explore foreign markets. Some of the Chinese overseas investments and projects are in conflict-laden regions. Increasingly, Beijing has felt that it must take measures to protect these expanding national interests. On Dec. 24, 2004, Chinese President Hu Jintao took the occasion of his inauguration as head of China’s Cen- tral Military Commission (CMC) to address senior PLA officials on China’s concerns and put forward a new vision for China’s defense policy. Hu’s call was later codified in China’s 2006 National Defense White Paper (NDWP), reaffirmed in the Chinese Communist Party’s constitution in November 2007 and reissued in the 2008 NDWP. Specifically, Hu tasks the PLA to do the following: Provide a solid security guarantee for sustaining the important period of strategic opportunity for national development, provide a strong strategic support for safeguarding national interests, and play a major role in maintaining world peace and promoting common development.2 This mission statement reflects several developments in Chinese leaders’