Research for People's Liberation Army
This paper traces the development of China’s hospital ships since the 1970s, culminating with the missions of China’s premier hospital ship, the “Peace Ark.” It then explores the ways in which Chinese hospital ships are being used, and how they might be deployed in the future. Finally, it addresses the implications of China’s use of hospital ships for the country’s expanding maritime hard and soft power.7 In order to complete these tasks, the study draws heavily on Chinese open-source media, including military affairs journals and newspapers.
On February 5, 2003, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC, held a conference focused on China’s interests in Central Asia. The author was asked to provide scene-setting remarks and historical context. The following is a transcript of the comments he made at the event.
This essay provides a broad-brush commentary on some of the salient elements of China’s external strategy, speculates about some of the challenges Beijing faces in executing its external strategy, and tables some implications. Before doing so, however, it offers five sui generis characteristics of strategies, because they inform the framework used to think about China’s external strategy.
This paper was first presented at the Fifth Annual Conference of the China Maritime Studies Institute at the U.S. Naval War College on 4 – 5 May 2010. It is offered as a CNA paper in advance of the publication of the conference proceedings with the permission of the conference sponsors.
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