Since the reform and opening up, China's economy has developed rapidly for 40 years. Reform and opening up refers to the self-reform of internal systems and concepts, while opening up is the process of introducing foreign capital, technology and ideas, and then exporting products overseas to earn economic surplus. With the deepening of opening up, especially after China's accession to the WTO, China's advantages have been brought into play and the deep integration of the world market has been realized.
But the PLA did not follow China's commercial interests, unlike the European powers of the 19th century. For example, China has hundreds of billions of dollars in trade with Africa every year, and China currently has only one overseas base in Djibouti, and its main mission is not to intervene and intervene in Africa.
China's military power has not gone with China's overseas interests, and in addition to our own ideology and basic foreign policy positions, it is important that China can ride the free ride of the liberal international order that the United States has built for a long time. China entered the U.S.-led international order, while the U.S. ensured the basic opening of global markets. Of course, for this reason, China must also endure the hegemony of the dollar and many other costs, and it needs to swallow its anger after encountering things, so this model should not be understood as a kind of American handout. To put it simply, we also paid for the ride.
Under this model, China can indeed achieve deep integration into the global market with relatively light military spending pressure. And China has relied on its strong internal state capacity to exert continuous control, intercepting economic surpluses and developing itself in the process. Therefore, China can accept the situation that its military force does not follow China's overseas interests to go out, which is a very rational choice.
However, in the current state, the free trade system has begun to loosen and regress, because the United States, as the dominant player in the global order, has begun to withdraw from the free trade system. The United States is no longer so determined to keep global markets open, and protectionism of all kinds will rise.
China is the country most motivated to sustain the global free trade system, which in fact constitutes its core interest. The United States is now relying on its advantages in the capital and consumer markets to promote "small courtyards and high walls" and reshape supply chains, and Europe is also frequently erecting barriers to Chinese products, which are all changes. Of course, it will not be easy for the United States to completely get rid of China, and there is a process in between. What we need now is to hold Europe in and actively expand the market potential of developing countries, which is exactly what China is doing.
The withdrawal of the United States from the free trade system also means that the importance of China's military presence abroad will become increasingly prominent in the future. China will not seek to garrison troops, but the PLA will have more and more overseas missions. Of course, in addition to military power, what is more important is to dominate the basic rules of free trade, market access, technical standards, etc., and the construction of these systematic infrastructure also requires the participation of military force.
Therefore, in the long run, the construction of the People's Liberation Army is to surpass the completion of the historical task of the reunification of the motherland, and the ocean-going fleet composed of 003, 055, and 052D, as well as the large amphibious assault ships 075 and 076, are all manifestations of these changes. The PLA's naval build-up will become more important, and it can be expected that the related investment will be long-term and sustained.
What the PLA needs most in safeguarding the overseas interests of the motherland is to have a new model that is different from the Western colonial system and neocolonialism, and it is not clear what this model is, but as a big country with a long history, a revolutionary tradition and a left-wing foundation, what China needs to do is inevitably bring a new model of globalization to the world. Of course, this also means that some of the patterns we are used to will go in new directions.