By Ryan D. Martinson and Conor Kennedy*
Introduction
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has quietly changed the way it interacts with U.S. military forces in the Western Pacific, the Centre for International Maritime Security reports. Instead of just tracking and monitoring U.S. ships and aircraft, demanding they leave sensitive areas, the PLA has embraced an approach that favors hostile encounters as preparation for future conflict with the United States. In PLA parlance, it is “using the enemy to train the troops”—nadi lianbing (拿敌练兵).
