After Xi Jinping took office in 2012, his government sought an enhanced role on the geo-political stage while assuring the international community that the PRC would not pursue conventional policies of military and political hegemony. However, while China repositioned itself by creating a new ‘center of gravity’ in the Asia-Pacific region, its new demands faced new challenges and implications for its national security, foreign threats, and strategic environment. The disputed islands in the East and South China Seas are possible sources of international discontent and present increasingly sensitive issues over sovereignty. In April 2013, China released its annual Defense White Paper, titled ‘The Diversified Employment of China’s Armed Forces’. It clearly states that a strong national defense and powerful armed forces are strategically commensurate with China’s modernization, peaceful development, international standing, and security concerns. In short, China’s armed forces must meet the new requirement for its national development and security strategy (Information Office 2013).

In August 2013, Xi Jinping, chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), visited the aircraft carrier Liaoning, commenting that China should build an even stronger naval force (Huang and Ng 2013, 1–3). The PLA Navy (PLAN) expanded from a ‘coastal fleet’ in the 1980s to a ‘twenty-first century maritime power’ (Cole 2010, x).