Summary
- The role of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in accomplishing Beijing’s political and ideological goals is called “military political work.” A subset of such work is China’s version of professional military education (PME).
- China’s PME treats the education and training of foreign military personnel as an opportunity to promote China’s governance model to develop closer relationships with foreign militaries and governments and to build a shared understanding of security.
- Each year, thousands of African officers from many different countries attend training programs in China and participate in dialogues and exchanges with their Chinese counterparts. Many alumni of these programs go on to play leading roles in their countries’ militaries and governments.
- Chinese PME is embedded within a larger framework designed to generate political support through party-to-party work, assistance in building infrastructure, and multifaceted soft power campaigns.
- US policymakers should respond to China’s effective use of PME by expanding opportunities for African officers and making PME part of its own package of targeted human resource development.
Source: United States Institute of Peace
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