The UK need to work with other countries—not limited to liberal-minded democracies—to maintain a counterbalance to communist China, MPs of the Defence Committee heard on Tuesday. The committee held an oral evidence session on Tuesday to gather evidence on China’s military ambitions and capabilities. The session will be followed by a wider inquiry later in the year into the Indo-Pacific region, including the role of the UK, committee chair MP Tobias Ellwood said. PLA Strategic Focus: First and Second Island Chains Experts told the committee that although the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has expanded its range of operations to be more globally postured, it is still regionally focused when it comes to conventional warfare. “The capacity to project power is firmly within 400 to 500 nautical miles from the Chinese coast both towards the East China Sea and South China Sea, and that includes the straits of Taiwan,” Alessio Patalano, a reader in …