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The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has in 2010 taken part in numerous exercises, experimented with long-range force projection and represented China abroad in a number of diplomatic visits. This heightened level of activity results from an ambitious naval strategy which seeks to secure China’s access to energy resources and to give it more diplomatic leverage in territorial disputes with its neighbours. As the Chinese leadership has shifted military investment towards the PLAN, it has been able to draw on a military-industrial base and research and development capabilities that have gained maturity through two decades of reform and military modernisation. The current maritime strategy has three main elements: military exercises designed for training purposes as well as to act as a deterrent; longer-range power-projection experiments; and military diplomacy in the form of port calls and bilateral cooperation.
