The news from China so far this year has been all about tumbling equity markets and a wobbly currency. But there is another, less well-covered story emanating from Beijing that threatens to have just as much impact on the rest of the world as the shredding of the Shanghai stock index or the plummeting renminbi: the country has quietly changed its guiding military doctrine.
The state-owned Global Times newspaper offered a pithy summary of this new stance this month: “Our military strength has to be demonstrated to the world,” it said. “With a strong army, China can be more politically appealing, influential and persuasive, and will make it easier to network.” Such hawkishness effectively signals the death knell for the policy of “taoguang Yonghui”, or “hiding one’s brilliance and biding one’s time”, that has defined China’s foreign policy since the late 1970s.
This shift in fact began several years ago, but a series of statements issued since the start of the year by the People’s Liberation Army have crystallised the new doctrine encapsulated in the notion of “active defence”.