Report: China’s Overseas Basing Strategy Focused on Protecting Sea Lanes, Not Confronting U.S.

File image of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy base in Djibouti. STR / AFP

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) does not have the expertise or capabilities to build military bases around the world that could be used to confront the United States in the event of a war between the two countries, according to a new report by the RAND Corporation.

The findings by RAND scholars Howard Wang and Nathan Beauchamp-Mustafaga came from an extensive survey of open- source literature conducted by dozens of Chinese military-affiliated scholars.

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by Eric Olander

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