2010 PLA Conference and Volume

Other Peoples' Wars: PLA Lessons from Foreign Conflicts

Co-hosted by The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) and the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) of the U.S. Army War College, leading experts on the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) gathered at Carlisle Barracks, PA, on October 22–24, 2010, to convene the 21st annual PLA Conference.

The conference, entitled “Other Peoples’ Wars: PLA Lessons from Foreign Conflicts,” sought to examine what lessons the PLA has drawn from conflicts around the world, and how those lessons might be applied to modern PLA tactics, doctrines, and intentions. While the PLA has not fought in a major war since 1979, it has studied the lessons of recent foreign conflicts abroad. In some cases, those lessons have resulted in observable changes to the PLA’s strategic, tactical, or operational posture. Thus, the goal of the conference was to explore how the PLA has studied and analyzed these foreign wars, and how this has influenced modern PLA strategy.

Conference Publications

• Chinese Lessons from Other Peoples’ Wars edited by Roy Kamphausen, David Lai, and Andrew Scobell (Strategic Studies Institute, 2011).
• The Executive Summary Digest includes brief excerpts from each chapter in the 2011 volume Chinese Lessons from Other Peoples’ Wars.
• The 2010 PLA Conference Colloquium Brief summarizes insights from the October 22-24, 2010, conference “Other People’s Wars: PLA Lessons from Foreign Conflicts.”

Book Discussion

On February 17, 2012, NBR and the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) of the U.S. Army War College hosted a discussion at the RAND Corporation with the editors and several chapter authors from Chinese Lessons from Other Peoples’ Wars on the key findings and policy implications of the volume.

Event Speakers

Andrew Scobell, RAND Corporation

Doug Lovelace, Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College

Rich Ellings, The National Bureau of Asian Research

Roy Kamphausen, The National Bureau of Asian Research

David Lai, Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College

Frank Miller, U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency

Christopher Yung, National Defense University

Dean Cheng, The Heritage Foundation

Book Discussion Event Photos

NBR Senior Associate Roy Kamphausen (center) led a panel which included Christopher Yung of National Defense University (left) and David Lai of the Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute (right)

NBR President Rich Ellings addressed the audience