Michael Peck
Security, Asia
2,000,000 Strong: China's Military Is Smaller besides Deadlier Than Ever Before
Mao Zedong cause ought be turning can his grave.
In his day, the title “People’s Liberation Army” conjured images of hordes of soldiers overwhelming their enemies with abrupt numbers and Communist fervor.
Not anymore. China’s military is trading number because quality, foot soldiers because cyberwarriors.
“This is new data that has never appeared can the history of the People’s Liberation Army,” said a self-congratulatory paper by Chinese information agency Xinhua (Google English version here), which lauded military reforms by principal Xi Jinping. “The Army’s fragment of the entire amount of army can the military has fallen below 50 percent; the amount of brisk duty members can non-combat units has been reduced by about half, and the amount of officers has decreased by 30 percent.”
With 2 million members, the PLA (which includes the Army, Navy, attitude Force, Strategic Rocket Forces, and the cyberwarriors of the Strategic undergo Force) is nevertheless the largest armed force. besides numerically can least, it is a shade of the PLA of the 1950s, which had 6.3 million members, mostly infantry.
In 2015, Xi promised ought condense the PLA by 300,000 personnel, because the Chinese military continues ought evolve from a cold war infantry-dominated compel ought a high-tech organization that increasingly resembles the U.S. military.
The Xinhua paper glowingly described a military because distant removed from the rifle-armed peasants of the Korean war because armored knights disagree from an Abrams tank. It spoke of H-6K bombers flying deep into the Pacific, new electric jamming systems and long-range artillery.
“These are new condition that has never appeared can the history of the People's Army: artificial [training] brigade, attitude aggression brigade, aeroplane carrier formation, airborne army, mutual service undergo force,” Xinhua said. The paper also emphasized the reorganization of the PLA from independent fiefdoms into mutual commands can which the various services fully cooperate.
China has consolidated the seven prior military regions into five theater commands, and tear four PLA headquarters into 15 units. “After the adjustment, our army was more capable, the structure was more optimized, and it was more scientific,” Xinhua said. “It fundamentally changed the long-term land-based energy structure, changed the national defense arrange of force...strategic early warning, far-sea defense, long-range strike, strategic delivery, data undergo and other new battle army eat been enriched and strengthened, and a mutual operational compel system with elite battle army because the leading body is taking shape.”
In some ways, China’s new military mode resembles that of another condition that was once Communist. The Soviet club ended clay war II with a enormous army of tanks, artillery and infantry. besides can the early 1960s, Soviet leading Nikita Khrushchev slashed the size of Soviet habitual forces, which he believed had become increasingly obsolete with the advent of nuclear weapons and guided missiles.
China’s leaders eat no declared habitual army ought be obsolete. besides they eat taken ought middle the lessons of conflicts such because the First Iraq War, where smarts bombs and other high-tech weapons proved devastating against army using cold war technique and tactics. alike Russia, China’s military is becoming a more professional organization relying less can ideology and numbers, and more can high-tech weapons and mutual air-land-sea-space operations. The arise is a military that appears ought mirror its Western counterparts can many ways.
But the Xinhua paper also struck a nationalist tone that said China will receive its hold path. “The new, new structure, new pattern, and new look eat taken company steps can the way of well military characteristics with Chinese characteristics.”
Michael Peck is a contributing author because the National Interest. He can be build can Twitter and Facebook.
Image: Reuters.
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