Description

Xi Jinping has made his ambitions for the Peoples Liberation Army PLA perfectly clear first that China should become a great maritime power and secondly that the PLA become a worldclass armed force by 2050 China as a TwentyFirstCentury Naval Power focuses on Chinas navy and how it is being transformed to satisfy the world class goal

Beginning with an exploration of why China is seeking to become such a major maritime power author Michael McDevitt first explores the strategic rationale behind Xis two objectives McDevitt dubs this Chinas sea lane anxiety and traces how this has required the PLA Navy to evolve from a near seasfocused navy to one that has global reach a blue water navy The more than ten years of antipiracy patrols in the far reaches of the Indian Ocean has acted as a learning curve accelerator to blue water status

McDevitt then explores the PLA Navys role in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean He provides a detailed assessment of what the PLAN will be expected to do if Beijing chooses to attack Taiwan potentially triggering combat with Americas first responders in East Asia This book concludes with a forecast of what Xis vision of a worldclass navy might look like in the next fifteen years when the 2035 deadline is reached