20 August 2022

New Wine in an Old Bottle: The PLA Invokes Mao in Support of All-Domain Operations


From March to April 2022 the official newspaper of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) published a series of articles arguing that all-domain operations are the application of certain Maoist military principles in the current era. The arguments were convoluted and unconvincing, but it is possible that the purpose of the series was not scholarly. Instead, its purpose is likely to have been to convince doubters in the PLA of the wisdom of the PLA’s latest addition to its doctrine and to boost their confidence in the PLA’s capacity to implement it. The PLA’s earnest effort to persuade the doubters would indicate that doubters exist, but it would also indicate that the PLA is serious about developing the capability to conduct all-domain operations.

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