New Delhi: In a rare development for communist China, the National People's Congress (NPC)—the highest decision-making body in China—has now sought opinion from the public on Beijing’s intention to make the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) an expeditionary force.
From the Indian point of view, such a new law will give legal sanctity to Chinese military action even in India’s vicinity—be it in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Maldives, or anywhere in waters of the Indian Ocean region, without necessarily obtaining the host country’s permission.
The development is a statement of intent of China’s naked ambition to be a global superpower as it positions China at the same pedestal as the US and Russia.
The proposed changes to the ‘National Defence Law’, amounting to a big escalation in the projection of China’s military and economic might, will give legal sanctity to PLA’s intervention in all places across the world wherever Chinese interests are impacted which is pretty much across the globe in all the continents including the shipping lanes. It translates into empowering China with a right to strike back wherever in the world its interests are imperilled.
While such military action can be taken up to protect the interests of Chinese citizens, organizations, units and facilities, the grounds can range from hostile action and regional instability to terror attacks.
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The latest move was announced on Wednesday after the draft law was reviewed by the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth NPC. The public can comment till November 19.
The original China ‘Law on National Defense’ was framed in 1997.
On Saturday however, the draft proposal was removed from the NPC website.
Chinese state-controlled media reported on the planned changes after Wei Fenghe, China’s defence minister, explained the draft in detail. The minister explained that the changes were mulled as China “cannot fully adapt to new missions and the requirements for the development of national defence and the Chinese military; therefore, it needs to be amended.”
The media report also claimed that the draft revisions “aim to make Chinese military service a profession revered by the whole of society”.
