As part of my work on the Defence Select Committee, it was a pleasure to be able to take part in a one-off session on China's military ambitions. The purpose of the session was to gather evidence on China's military aspirations and capabilities, taking into account China's regional and global objectives, non-war Chinese missions such as peace-keeping work in Mali, and Chinese actions in cyberspace.
In the session, the Defence Select Committee was given the opportunity to pose questions to three experts in the field; Meia Nouwens, a Senior Fellow for Chinese Defence Policy and Military Modernisation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies; Charles Parton OBE, a Senior Associate Fellow at Royal United Services Institute (RUSI); and Dr Alessio Patalano, from the Department of War Studies at Kings College London.
I was pleased to be able to ask the three experts about China's expansion in international engagement towards peace-keeping, and about the Chinese People's Liberation Army's peace-keeping operations in Mali, which are taking place alongside the British Army.
You can view the whole proceedings on the Parliament.TV website, here.
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