China needs deterrent force to protect its expanding overseas interests: expert

Former PLA officer said worsening relations with the US and its allies have made the task more urgent

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Chinese troops stationed at China’s only overseas base in Djibouti take part in Ivory Coast’s 64th anniversary of independence celebrations. Photo: Facebook/Chinese Embassy, Ivory Coast

Published: 2:00pm, 16 Aug 2024Updated: 7:34pm, 16 Aug 2024

China needs to establish an effective deterrent and improve its intelligence capabilities to better protect its expanding overseas interests, according to a senior military expert.

Liu Qiang, a retired People’s Liberation Army officer who served twice with United Nations peacekeeping forces, said it was “necessary” to explore military protection and overseas troop deployments, even though they are “a last resort”.

“It requires careful planning and cautious practice. But nevertheless, this is an important step in our non-war military operations, and it must be perfected, deepened and implemented in terms of law,” he said, in an article published on Wednesday.

Liu, currently deputy director of the Centre for the Protection of China’s Overseas Interests at the Guosheng Strategic Think Tank in Beijing, wrote that China “also needs to conduct regular exercises in training so as to achieve the deterrent effect”.

In the article, published on the think tank’s official social media account, Liu noted that China’s expanding overseas investments mean that it is also confronted with growing risks to the security of its personnel and assets.

The urgency has been heightened by worsening relations with the US and its allies, which have led to increasing perceptions in the West of a “China threat”, Liu noted.