United States military-to-military contact with the People's Liberation Army of China

This thesis will assess whether or not military-to-military contacts between the United States military and the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) will be advantageous to American interests. The main reason not to increase military-tomilitary contact is that we may go to war with China in the future. Taiwan, China's perceived bid for regional hegemony, and its aggressive missile programs stand as reasons not to increase military-to-military contact programs. On the other hand, engagement proponents would argue that access to counterparts in foreign militaries might help avert these very crises that may lead to war. In addition, case studies of Indonesia and El Salvador show that the long-held traditions of strong military influence over civil administration and oppression towards their own populace are on the decline. To a significant degree, this can be attributed to the participation of these nation's security forces in American military-to-military engagement programs. Through aggressive military engagement programs, the United States has gained significant access to top military and civilian leaders in foreign nations. On some occasions, this has resulted in influencing these individuals and has led to positive and significant changes in patterns of behavior of the host nation's security forces.

Grantor dc:publisher

Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School

Year dc:date.issued

2002

Author dc:creator

• Hsu, David K.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Miller, Lyman

Statement dc:rights

• This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10945/5908

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:calhoun.nps.edu:10945/5908