Chinese Military to 2000

At a glance:

For most of China’s history, the principal function of its military has been the maintenance of internal control over its people rather than protecting them from foreign invaders. Geographically, China is protected by the mountains of the Tibetan plateau to the south and west and the Pacific Ocean to the south and east. The country has faced minor threats by sea from pirates, but until the Western incursion in the nineteenth century, it faced no serious threat to its independence. China has never sought to be a naval power, except for the fifteenth century maritime explorer Zheng He....

[The entire page is 811 words long]

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