The United States February 4 Jamestown Foundation article reported that after 10 years of military modernization, the PLA Navy’s last stand at the crossroads of history. Despite its based on Western standards can not be called blue-water navy, it has a number of important military bridge the gap, and demonstrated China’s waters far away from the start to fulfill various tasks of peace operations.
In the growing economic and security interests under the impetus of the PLA is venturing into the world’s marine areas, while the field has been dominated by the United States. In China since the end of 2008 began to Gulf of Aden to send anti-piracy task force, which is the most obvious example of this trend. In addition, the Chinese government refers to its aircraft carrier project, more and more frank, and even then the construction of overseas recognition of the "supply base" possibilities.
Indeed, China’s leadership to encourage the PLA Navy to play an international role, however, ignore the intent of the highlight sea power, might give rise to the United States, India and Japan, panic, thus undermining broader security interests. In the People’s Liberation Army Navy actively preparing for an unprecedented commitment to international missions in the next few decades with a variety of new capabilities in the process of focus on the Beijing government to quell the concerns of States about Chinese intentions, rather than deny that the rapid development of the PLA’s capabilities.
Today, Chinese officials, academics, official publications, began to talk openly, but clever and tasks of the PLA Navy’s capabilities, compared with the past, say that this is a breakthrough. 2008 national defense white paper acknowledged that the PLA navy will gradually develop offshore operations to cope with non-traditional security threats.
During the 60th anniversary of National Day in 2009, facing the wider world of readers English "People’s Daily" reported that: China has its own aircraft carrier is reasonable. People’s Liberation Army Navy, Rear Admiral Yang Yi, without the need to demonstrate that China’s growing military strength to worry, for China, this is a breakthrough. People’s Liberation Army Navy had largely confined to the coastal defense mission and support for ground forces, on top of, and now Hu Jintao to fulfill the "new history," has been a part of this important feature of maritime forces. Some Western observers believe that China’s growing confidence that Beijing leaders consider themselves free from the international community to monitor the embodiment of a self-confident China is swaggering onto the international stage.
However, while Beijing is indeed showed some signs of self-confidence, but China’s leaders are still focused on to show the world an image of a responsible global player. As for the development of sea power, and Beijing has now reached the "categorically denied that would be counter-productive" stage.
In fact, the denial is futile. Jane’s Defense Weekly, published in 2008, satellite images, it appears from the southern tip of Hainan Island, China, in its construction of the submarine facilities. Therefore, Beijing will no longer deny that the rapid development of the PLA’s naval power and instead focus on a country to quell concern about China’s intentions. This allows Chinese leaders to foreign observers to demonstrate its changing realities, while claiming that foreign demand that China improve the transparency of the response.
Beijing’s anti-piracy task of the Gulf of Aden the way, highlighting it as a responsible and benign intent to prove their efforts. However, foreign observers are still stressed that the Chinese navy is the experience gained in actual operations, in order to prepare for wartime environment. In order to calm the international community’s concerns about China’s intentions to expand in Beijing recently that China is considering giving up the building of military bases overseas, is not self-limiting.
In 2005, the outstanding foreign affairs experts, the current Chinese leadership’s long-term adviser Zheng clearly expounded China’s "peaceful rise" concept. Later, realized that the "rise" a term in foreign countries may have a negative connotation, so they were changed to the "peaceful development." In the current can not simply ignore or deny that China is emerging as a regional military power, under the facts of the case, this concept is extremely necessary. In the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s 60th anniversary celebrations and the International Fleet Review, a ceremony, Chinese President Hu Jintao stressed the theme of the multinational naval operation – "Harmonious sea", he declared that China "will never seek hegemony, nor will it turn to military expansion and the military arms race. "