The power of ideas: the epistemic community and China's revolution in military affairs, 1980–2002

Abstract

This thesis traces the origins and evolution of the ideas and concepts associated with the revolution in military affairs (RMA) with Chinese characteristics. More specifically, it identifies the group of RMA enthusiasts, tracing their patterns of activities, identifying their communication platforms and channels of influence, and examining their long-term impact on the RMA and ideas associated with it.It argues that from 1980 to 2002, the policy ideas created and advanced by this RMA epistemic community (RMA EC) were crucial in defining PLA conceptions of the RMA. In the early 1980s, they contributed to the reassessing of the international security environment and shaped the Chinese leadership's threat perception which eventually led to the shift of PLA strategic thought from preparing for imminent all-out war to peacetime army building. They also advocated a holistic, forward-looking approach to defence studies. In the mid-1980s, they proposed major PLA-wide future war studies initiatives, which resulted in introducing the concepts of local war and high-tech wars into the PLA. This eventually led to the strategy of 'local war under high-tech conditions', announced in 1993. In the 1990s, they kept expanding the RMA EC and engaged with military regions and group armies, disseminated their future high-tech war ideas to combat units and helping them create operational concepts. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, they played a leading role in identifying the information aspect of warfare as the key of future high-tech wars. This made a significant contribution to updating the PLA's strategic outlook from 'local war under high-tech conditions' to 'local war under conditions of informationisation'. Moreover, they were among the first to introduce foreign advanced training methods such as computer simulation, realistic combat training and base-ised combat training. In sum, the RMA EC played a leading role in introducing foreign military ideas and adapting them to Chinese contexts, which eventually defined the RMA with Chinese characteristics.