Beyond The Strait: PLA Missions Other Than Taiwan [Enlarged Edition]

by Roy Kamphausen, David Lai, Andrew Scobell

On September 26, 2008, over 70 leading experts from academia, government, the military and policy thinktanks assembled at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, to look beyond the Chinese People's Liberation Army's (PLA) primary focus on Taiwan and to the evolving new roles of the PLA. The conference could not have been timelier, given the PLA's active involvement in events during 2008, including earthquake relief, counterterrorism, humanitarian assistance, space activities, and blue water naval operations.

404 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2009

Reviews

[Nick Black]

2009-06-13: well, I thought my fear of the Chinafolk was just a low-grade xenophobia instilled too youthfully to shake off (thanks mom and dad!), but it turns out we really do have about a decade before wretched Unistat refugees are washing up on the 南中國海 shores, looking to be paid pennies on the hour for the manufacture of cheap trinkets (well, those are the words of Robert Anton Wilson, anyway; they're of course inaccurate because (a) wtf boat it to china? hate to tell you, chief, but just about every American born since 1950 or so is dumber and less of a groin-grabbingly badass display of steamroller-esque virility than Thor Heyerdahl (which is really the root of the problem), (b) even if we (Americans) were all as crafty as Thor Heyerdahl, the marbled ones among us would be quickly taken by sharks (no, sampans did not deliver "boat people" across the pacific -- it was a nasty voyage to south asia/australia, followed by pick-and-choose emigration. check out the fate of the USS Indianapolis before naively embarking across Mare Pacificum aboard three planks and a tarp), (c) lots of pirates in those waters and (d) canada). my advice is to sit back and enjoy the ride.