Page 22 - 2020 Defence White Paper

space, cyber operations, information collection, electronic, and psychological
warfare operations. With the goal of defense science and technology innovation,
it is strengthening the in-depth development of civil-military integration by
absorbing superior private sector technologies in various fields where the military
and the private sector converge such as artificial intelligence (AI), unmanned aerial
vehicles and unmanned system, information technology, and network safety, as
well as strengthening defense science capabilities and acquiring advanced overseas
technologies.
The PLA Joint Logistics Support Force (PLAJLSF) was formed to establish a
centralized command related logistics support and a military theatre support system.
It supports strategic maneuver of PLA units while overseeing supply and logistics
support operations at the Wuhan Joint Logistics Support Base. Meanwhile, five
support centers located in five theater regions are in charge of service support for
responsible operational units.
In order to strengthen its defense mobilization capability, China is striving to build
a reserve capacity as a paramilitary organization capable of executing missions
during emergency situations and wartime by focusing on improving the militia
structure and expanding the mobilization capacity. In particular, it is assessed that
the People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PFAMM) possesses the capacity and
scale to carry out military operations such as reconnaissance, camouflage, feint
operations, and logistics support.
Recently, China has been actively engaged in military activities to expand its
influence in the region and respond to the US’s freedom of navigation operations in

the South China Sea and enhanced cooperation with Taiwan. Amid the COVID-19
pandemic, China conducted patrol activities near the South China Sea and offshore
drills in the Pacific Ocean as well as joint drills with major partners such as Pakistan,
Thailand, and Cambodia. Moreover, after elevating its partnership with Russia in
22) 2019 to a "new era full-scale strategic partnership", the gradual increase in joint
They include the new
enactment of the military drills and expansion of cooperation in strategic hi-tech fields are expected.
International Peace
Support Act and the
revision of the Self- Japan In July 2014, under the mantra of "proactive pacifism", Japan changed
Defense Force Act, Ship
Inspection Operations its constitutional interpretation of exercising the right to collective
Act, International Peace
Cooperation Act, self-defense, and has been since expanding the role of the Japan Self-Defense
Armed Attack Situations
Response Act, and Act Forces (JSDF). By revising the "Guidelines for US–Japan Defense Cooperation" in
Concerning Measures to
Ensure Peace and Security April 2015, and amending national security laws and regulations in September
22)
in Situations That Will Have
an Important Influence of the same year, Japan created the legal basis to use force by invoking the right
on Japan’s Peace and
Security. of collective self-defense against existential threats that may not necessarily be

20 2020 Defense White Paper