Chieh, Chung / 揭 仲

Ph.D in International Affairs and Strategic Studies, Tamkang University , Taiwan.

When the Japanese government declared the possible “nationalization” of the Diaoyutai Islands on April 17, 2012, and revealed plans to send civil servants and build up infrastructures on the islands in order to realize the “de facto administration”, the the PRC was determined to enforce coercive diplomacy toward Japan, as Beijing assumed Noda administration decided to breach the long established bilateral tacit consensus of setting aside the disputes.

In order to support the coercive diplomacy, the PLA exercises the carefully-designed military demonstration. This includes: increasing frequency of military drills, warship dispatch/military presence in the waters and air space surrounding the islands to show the PRC’s determination and support its diplomatic negotiations. The whole dispute has come to a temporary halt in November 2014, and the PRC partially benefitted from the coercive diplomacy.

Through the research on how the PLA supports the “coercive diplomacy” in this case, this paper not only increases the understanding of the PRC’s “coercive diplomacy” but also helps to evaluate how the PRC will leverage the PLA in similar sovereignty disputes, such as those in the South China Sea.

Keywords: PLA study, Coercive diplomacy, Diaoyutai Islands, China, Japan