PLA’s Influence in Foreign Policy Making in China and Implications for India

Given the growing international dimensions of the three areas assigned to the PLA in the White Paper, especially the increasing linkage between the country’s national security needs and foreign policy goals, the leadership in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has rightly entrusted the country’s defence establishment with the task of conducting its own ‘diplomacy’ under a ‘new security concept’. Also, as per the country’s national security agenda, the Chinese authorities have given powers to the PLA for playing a role beyond the country’s borders, as in, peacekeeping operations and anti-piracy missions.