THE PLA AND THE KOSOVO CONFLICT
June Teufel Dreyer
May 2000
The views expressed in this report are those of the author and do
not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the
Department of the Army, the Department of Defense, or the U.S.
Government.
SUMMARY
The U.S. armed forces are not the only military that has sought to discern the lessons of the
Kosovo campaign in the spring of 1999. The Chinese People s Liberation Army (PLA) has also
analyzed the conflict and drawn its own conclusions. In fact, as Dr. June Teufel Dreyer,
Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami in Florida, observes, rather than reach
a single set of conclusions, different groups within the Chinese military drew different
judgments. Dr. Dreyer argues that these differences of opinion reflect the considerable
diversity of thinking about defense modernization and future war that exists within the PLA
today. The analysis that follows provides an opportunity for readers to learn about the
different strands in Chinese strategic thinking as that country enters the 21st century. The
different views that Dr. Dreyer identifies reminds us of the dangers of treating the PLA as a
single monolithic entity. Only through careful study and analysis can we anticipate trends in
the future direction of the PLA.
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Strategic Studies Institute
United States Army War College
Carlisle Barracks
This page last updated on
18 May 2000.