The Dragon Bares Its Fangs

Modernisation of Plarf to Support an Expansionist Policy

Abstract

On December 31, 2015, China elevated the status and stature of its nuclear and missile forces by making the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) a fourth military Service alongside the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Since then, the pronouncements and directions of Chinese President Xi Jinping and press releases have bolstered and further enhanced the importance that China attaches to its PLARF. Owing to China's increasing attention to the PLARF, it becomes imperative to understand the Chinese approach to the modernisation of the PLARF and its future role. The pertinent query lies in understanding how this capability will be instrumental in actualising China's role in the future. Keeping this context, the assessments will be drawn from a context and content analysis of the official papers and documents of press releases to determine if there is a genuine commitment to the official word or there is an asymmetry in the theory and practice. In doing so, the paper seeks to examine two key issues: first, application of the proposed thoughts and ideas; and second, evaluation of the consonance between professing and practice.