IMGXYZ1065IMGZYXThe China Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace co-sponsored the International Conference on PLA Affairs, held in Taipei, Taiwan from November 20th to November 22nd.  This annual conference on the Chinese military, organized by the Council for Advanced Policy Studies in Taipei (Taiwan's leading research institute on Chinese military affairs), has been held for 20 years and is considered the premier annual event on the topic.  Carnegie has been a co-sponsor for the past several years, under the direction of Senior Associate Michael D. Swaine.  Other co-sponsors this year were the RAND Corporation, CNA, and the Institute for National Strategic Studies of the National Defense University.  Participants included many of the top specialists on PLA affairs in the U.S., Taiwan, and among several Asian countries. 

This year's conference marked the twentieth anniversary of the gathering.  Its theme was “A Twenty-Year Retrospective on PLA Studies: What Have We Learned and Where Do We Go From Here?” A variety of excellent papers were presented that examined and assessed the best scholarly literature and policy analysis on the PLA produced over the past 20 years, focusing on topics such as PLA strategy, capabilities, and civil-military relations.  The final session of the conference examined the implications of the preceding analysis and discussions for the future direction of PLA studies. 

The proceedings were conducted on an "off-the-record" basis.  However, the organizers intend to publish the best papers as an edited volume. 

The 2007 Carnegie book Assessing the Threat contains the best among three years of past conference papers.