Strategic Digest Vol 4 No. 12, 16 June 2022

While the actual contents of the trial outline have not yet been made public, an article in the Communist Party's media Global Times has argued that the outline set a legal basis within China for the People's Liberation Army to "safeguard China's national sovereignty, security and development interests ". [...] The outlines summarize experiences accumulated from past missions and practices, draw results from both military and civilian research, and standardize the basic principles, organization and command, and types of activities, providing the legal basis for the troops to carry out military operations other than war, according to Xinhua. [...] In this regard, the 2020 edition of the Science of Military Strategy, published by China’s National Defence University, advocated preparing for combat in faraway “strategically important areas,” including a new class of “maritime mobile operations.” The imperative of protection of Chinese overseas interests has led to the securitization of Chinese foreign policy. [...] The territorial dispute between Japan and Russia has its origins in the closing days of World War II when the Soviet Union seized the islands of Etorofu, Habomai, Kunashiri, and Shikotan—off the northern tip of Hokkaidō and at the southern end of Russia’s Kuril Islands. [...] The suspension of the fishing agreement, apparently in response to Japan’s sanctions against Moscow, raises concern about the safety of Japanese fishing boats in the area.