Independent publicationCorpus snapshot: 15 October 2026 · 873 records
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The PLA Watch

The PLA Watch is now part of Indo-Pacific Record Briefs

The China Desk's weekly series The PLA Watch spanned the project's publication rename: 13 earlier editions were published under China Mil Watch, and 1 later edition was published by Indo-Pacific Record. Its issues are now earlier Briefs in Indo-Pacific Record Briefs, listed with every other Brief in one place.

Read the Briefs

These issues are preserved as published

Every issue keeps the issue number, title, dek, byline, date and publication identity it carried when it was published, and keeps the path it was published at: the series archive. China Mil Watch's own domain redirects to the 13 editions published under that masthead rather than dropping them. No issue is rewritten to look as though it appeared under a masthead it did not carry, in either direction.

Citing an earlier Brief

Each earlier Brief's citation text, kept at the address it has always had.

Citation text for the 14 earlier Briefs

  1. Benjamin Yang. "The PLA Watch: One Exercise, Five Reports East of Taiwan." The PLA Watch, No. 14, week ending 15 August 2026. https://indopacificrecord.org/the-pla-watch/posts/2026-08-15.html.

  2. Benjamin Yang. "The PLA Watch: Scarborough Shoal, Platform Disclosures, and the Limits of Anniversary Week." The PLA Watch, No. 13, week ending 8 August 2026. https://indopacificrecord.org/the-pla-watch/posts/2026-08-08.html.

  3. Benjamin Yang. "The PLA Watch: Army Day, Scarborough Shoal, and a Week of Deliberate Disclosure." The PLA Watch, No. 12, week ending 1 August 2026. https://indopacificrecord.org/the-pla-watch/posts/2026-08-01.html.

  4. Benjamin Yang. "The PLA Watch: Joint Sea-2026, the Y-20B Abroad, and the Week's Quieter Signals." The PLA Watch, No. 11, week ending 18 July 2026. https://indopacificrecord.org/the-pla-watch/posts/2026-07-18.html.

  5. Benjamin Yang. "The PLA Watch: Beijing's Public SLBM Test and What It Was Designed to Do." The PLA Watch, No. 10, week ending 11 July 2026. https://indopacificrecord.org/the-pla-watch/posts/2026-07-11.html.

  6. Benjamin Yang. "The PLA Watch: Scarborough Shoal, July 1st Loyalty, and What Routine Looks Like." The PLA Watch, No. 9, week ending 4 July 2026. https://indopacificrecord.org/the-pla-watch/posts/2026-07-04.html.

  7. Benjamin Yang. "The PLA Watch: Carriers, Drones, and the Rocket Force's Manning Problem." The PLA Watch, No. 8, week ending 27 June 2026. https://indopacificrecord.org/the-pla-watch/posts/2026-06-27.html.

  8. Benjamin Yang. "The PLA Watch: The CCG Statement That Stood Apart." The PLA Watch, No. 7, week ending 20 June 2026. https://indopacificrecord.org/the-pla-watch/posts/2026-06-20.html.

  9. Benjamin Yang. "The PLA Watch: Combat Realism, Institutional Friction, and One Confirmation Worth Noting." The PLA Watch, No. 6, week ending 13 June 2026. https://indopacificrecord.org/the-pla-watch/posts/2026-06-13.html.

  10. Benjamin Yang. "The PLA Watch: Loitering Munitions, Rocket Force Readiness, and the Coast Guard's Expanding Remit." The PLA Watch, No. 5, week ending 6 June 2026. https://indopacificrecord.org/the-pla-watch/posts/2026-06-06.html.

  11. Benjamin Yang. "The PLA Watch: Senior Cadre Oversight, Electronic Warfare, and the Week's Institutional Texture." The PLA Watch, No. 4, week ending 30 May 2026. https://indopacificrecord.org/the-pla-watch/posts/2026-05-30.html.

  12. Benjamin Yang. "The PLA Watch: Institutional Friction and the Gap Between Form and Function." The PLA Watch, No. 3, week ending 23 May 2026. https://indopacificrecord.org/the-pla-watch/posts/2026-05-23.html.

  13. Benjamin Yang. "Fujian’s Air Wing Takes Shape as the Rocket Force Trains for Failure." The PLA Watch, No. 2, week ending 16 May 2026. https://indopacificrecord.org/the-pla-watch/posts/2026-05-16.html.

  14. Benjamin Yang. "The PLA Watch: Two Defense Ministers, One Verdict." The PLA Watch, No. 1, week ending 9 May 2026. https://indopacificrecord.org/the-pla-watch/posts/2026-05-09.html.

A gap in the series, recorded rather than hidden

There is no edition for the week ending 25 July 2026. An eight-day collection outage left that window with one observed day of seven, and retro-scraping was tested and rejected as unsound. The outage itself is listed on Coverage.

Collection and processing dates