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But the last thing China wants is fear of China. This in part tells why all the operations by its military overseas have been humanitarian in nature. Besides, the PLA will cut the number of military personnel by 300,000 as part of its most revolutionary top-down restructuring in history. The aim is to become "leaner but stronger" and modernized by mid-century.
No matter how the PLA may look like at its strongest, it is impossible to imagine China establishing hundreds of military bases overseas, increasing its nuclear warheads or conducting regular close-in surveillance off the waters of a far away country.
In all likelihood, the PLA will act in the same way as Zheng did, that is, pacifist rather than assertive, giving rather than taking, keeping rather than breaking. Any involvement in wars such as the ones in Iraq and Libya on untenable evidence can never be the PLA's choice. Those wars have produced nothing other than casualties of both civilians and soldiers, exodus of endless refugees and rise of such monsters as the Islamic State.
The author is an honorary fellow with the Center of China-American Defense Relations, Academy of Military Science.
