EVENTS

In 2015, China issued a Defence White Paper that categorically stated that “the strategic concept of active defense is the essence of the CPC’s military strategic thought” - lifting the veil over China’s military strategy. However, what remains unclear is how defensive is the concept of active defence? ‘Active defence’ calls for the People’s Liberation Army to ‘not attack unless attacked, but surely counterattack when attacked’. Therefore, one cannot ignore the scope or potential of ‘pre-emption’ in the case of China. Simply put, Beijing’s growing military capabilities and quest for power projection suggest an ‘offensive’ intent—an ability to attack and not just respond when attacked. As noted, in the form of recent Chinese military activism in the Taiwan Straits against US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August. In this context, it becomes imperative to decode the underpinnings of ‘active defence’ in China’s Military Strategy.

About the Speaker

Dr. Amrita Jash is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Geopolitics and International Relations at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) in Manipal, India. She holds a PhD in Chinese Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University. She was a Pavate Fellow at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Jash has been a visiting fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge, a UGC graduate fellow (2012-2017), a researcher under the Harvard-Yenching-Nanching Programme (2015), a researcher under China’s Ministry of Commerce (2014), and a US-India-China Initiative fellow at SAIS, Johns Hopkins University (2013). In 2019, she received a commendation by the Chief of the Army Staff General Bipin Rawat for her contribution to the field of Chinese Studies at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies. Dr. Jash has authored The Concept of Active Defence in China's Military Strategy (Pentagon Press, 2021). Her research interests are China’s foreign policy, the PLA, security and strategic issues in India-China and China-Japan relations as well as the Indo-Pacific.

About the Chair

M V Rappai is a Delhi based security analyst specializing in Asian Strategic issues. He worked with the Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India and later on joined the IDSA as a Research Fellow (1996 - 2002). He is currently associated with the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi and has published chapters in books and articles in reputed journals and newspapers. Rappai holds a PG Diploma in Chinese language from the School of Foreign Languages, Govt. of India, New Delhi.

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