All militaries have a responsibility to plan for contingencies, and China's military, the People's Liberation Army (PLA), is no exception. PLA contingency planning takes place primarily within the General Staff Department's (GSD's) First Department, also known as the GSD Operations Department. China's seven military regions participate in drafting and reviewing the plans relevant to their areas of responsibility, albeit under heavy supervision from the GSD. U.S. joint doctrine defines a contingency as "a situation that likely would involve military forces in response to natural and manmade disasters, terrorists, subversives, military operations by foreign powers, or other situations." U.S. doctrine distinguishes between deliberate planning (advance preparation of campaign and contingency plans in non-crisis situations) and crisis action planning (rapid planning in response to a developing incident or situation). Deliberate planning is typically used to develop campaign and contingency plans for a broad range of activities based on requirements identified in strategic guidance for military commanders. Crisis action planning is conducted with less advance warning (hours, days, or up to 12 months) and focuses on developing alternative courses of action or refining existing campaign or contingency plans to adapt to current circumstances. Why publish a book you can download for free? We print this book so you don't have to. Some documents are only available in electronic format. The print versions may be 6 inch by 9 inch (or smaller) so they are difficult to read. We print books a full 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches with large text and wide margins so you can jot down notes. Some documents found on the web are missing some pages or the image quality is so poor, they are difficult to read. If you find a good copy, you could print it using a network printer you share with 100 other people (typically its either out of paper or toner). If it's just a 10-page document, no problem, but if it's 250-pages, you will need to punch 3 holes in all those pages and put it in a 3-ring binder. Takes at least an hour. It's much more cost-effective to just order the latest version from Amazon.com This book includes original commentary which is copyright material. Note that government documents are in the public domain. We print these large documents as a service so you don't have to. The books are compact, tightly-bound, full-size (8 1/2 by 11 inches), with large text and glossy covers. We publish short-run books (limited numbers) so they are not the least expensive available. However, we strive to issue a high-quality product with large text that is clear and crisp. Of course, color printing is expensive, so we pass that cost along to the customer. 4th Watch Publishing is a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) located in a HUBZONE. Feel free to contact me if there is a government publication you want to see printed. Our web site is: usgovpub.com