April 1, 2019
Why Is China's Navy Studying the Battle of Guadalcanal?
We have a few ideas.
by Lyle J. Goldstein
Readers may take some reassurance from the Chinese Navy analysis of the Guadalcanal campaign in that the PLA does not seem to be enthralled with the so-called "cult of the offensive†that can commonly afflict military organizations.
China's military has not had much combat experience in recent decades, and this is recognized among Chinese military leaders as a potentially serious problem. The reasons for this scarcity of battlefield know—how are obvious and might even be praise-worthy. It has been nearly four decades since Beijing undertook a significant military campaign, so how would its armed forces have attained this knowledge? As I have argued many times before in this forum, nearly four decades without resorting to a major use of force represents very impressive restraint for any great power.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/why-chinas-navy-studying-battle-guadalcanal-50107
