Grant Newsham, the CEO of the Risk Mitigation Foundation's affiliated 3rd Rail organization and a Foundation Advisory Board member, teamed up with geopolitical risk and global energy expert, Mr. Jeremy Maxie, and the two co-authored this piece for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.
Messrs Grant and Maxie discuss the coming influence of the PLA's marines, or PLAMC, underscoring that, in addition to warfighting capabilities, the PLAMC will also assert China’s regional influence through regular bilateral and multilateral training exercises as well as "show-the-flag" port visits that are part and parcel of naval diplomacy. This will be accomplished by by forward-deploying the PLAMC and the PLA Navy to Djibouti and Pakistan. China will thereby significantly increase its capability to project “hard power” in the Middle East and Africa.