Since China's massive economic expansion at the end of the Cold War, protecting its interests abroad as well as supplementing economic influence with military influence has become an increasingly important priority. On Dec. 27, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed the nation's first counterterrorism law, laying the legal groundwork to conduct overseas security and counterterrorism operations.
Initially, China will probably send additional investigators, intelligence collectors and security liaisons abroad as it expands domestic collections and responds to individual incidents against Chinese personnel, businesses or activities. But there is a heavy focus on what is referred to as "military operations other than war." These operations include disaster response, search and rescue, anti-piracy operations, medical operations and even infrastructure development.
The greater vision laid out in China's 2015 defense white paper makes it clear that the goal is to fully transform the role of the military, reorienting each branch toward overseas operations and expanding the military's role to include the protection of Chinese interests abroad. This change has become necessary as international instability and the expansion of terrorism and piracy now threaten China's significantly expanded economic and political connections around the world. Thus, China has been participating in U.N. and anti-piracy operations and taking a more assertive role in the South and East China seas.
