China

The Reluctant Partner

Andrew Scobell, William Welser IV, Thomas S. Szayna

ResearchPublished Jul 30, 2014

U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has developed and put forth its Global SOF Network vision, which calls for a distributed overseas posture for Special Operations Forces (SOF). There's a high probability that the establishment of a U.S. Global SOF Network will reinforce Beijing's extreme insecurities about Washington's intentions towards China, and heighten Chinese perceptions of enhanced US military encirclement capabilities. However, if China is invited to partner with U.S. SOF, this may alter Chinese thinking on military cooperation. While there is likely to be significant initial reluctance in Beijing, there may be considerable receptiveness to active cooperation in counterterrorism and counterpiracy activities. This video podcast is based on research for USSOCOM that is not available to the general public.

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Scobell, Andrew, William Welser IV, and Thomas S. Szayna, China: The Reluctant Partner, RAND Corporation, PT-123-USSOCOM, 2014. As of September 11, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/presentations/PT123.html
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Scobell, Andrew, William Welser IV, and Thomas S. Szayna, China: The Reluctant Partner. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2014. https://www.rand.org/pubs/presentations/PT123.html.
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