China’s military diplomacy makes US alliances and intelligence even more important, congressional panel hears

PLA’s success using long-practised American tactics of port calls and arms sales is boosted by state-owned companies at its disposal, witnesses say

Washington could shore up relations with countries Beijing eagerly courts and draw on long-standing defence ties globally

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A Chinese navy fleet departs for a Sino-Russian joint naval exercise from a military port in Zhoushan in December. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 7:40am, 27 Jan 2023Updated: 12:05am, 28 Jan 2023

A more confident China has become increasingly adept at military diplomacy as it seeks to exploit American complacency, pursue strategic opportunities and nudge countries into its camp, making Washington’s alliances and intelligence collection on Beijing’s campaigns even more crucial, witnesses told a US congressional advisory commission.

The People’s Liberation Army is using many tactics the US has long employed to expand its soft power, including port calls, military-to-military contacts, arms sales, education programmes and global conferences, according to testimony heard on Thursday by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, an independent agency established in 2000 to advise Congress.

Furthermore, Beijing has unique tools such as an ability to leverage state-owned companies to spy and support PLA interests, witnesses said.

“We are seeing the PLA engage more and more because they want to project global power,” said Melodie Ha, an analyst with the US Defence Department.

“We should think about our military diplomacy and what we can do, but at the same time also think about what we can do better than the PLA, which is interoperability and building partner capacity.”

Once largely internal in focus, the PLA has steadily cast its ambitions outwards. Yet as an arm of the Communist Party rather than of the Chinese government, its overseas military contacts tend to ebb, flow or completely halt in line with broader party objectives, witnesses said.