Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers line up during military training at the Pamir Mountains in Kashgar, China, on Jan. 4, 2021. STR/AFP via Getty Images
Part one of this two-part series discussed the known and possible locations where the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is building bases. This article will examine indicators of future PLA basing locations and look at CCP/PLA quasi-military groups that operate outside the mainland.
Agreements
A fully operational base is the clearest example of CCP/PLA expansionism. Other types of agreements can also enable the PLA basing that is not full-time, such as a logistics support agreement, status of forces or visiting forces agreement, port visits, military exercise use or contingency basing, host nation support agreement, assistance-in-kind agreement, emergency use agreement, acquisition cross-servicing agreement, memorandum of understanding, memorandum of agreement, and prepositioned supplies.
Guermantes Lailari
Author
Guermantes Lailari is a retired U.S. Air Force Foreign Area officer specializing in counterterrorism, irregular warfare, and missile defense. He holds advanced degrees in international relations and strategic intelligence. He was a Taiwan fellow in Taipei during 2022 and is a visiting researcher at National Chengchi University in 2023.
