20th+: PLA - Xina's Military

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the regular armed forces of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the armed wing of the PRC's founding and ruling political party, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Besides the Central Military Commission (CMC) and several minor units directly under it, the PLA has five major service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, Rocket Force, and the Strategic Support Force. A majority of military units around the country are assigned to one of five theater commands by geographical location. The PLA is the world's largest military force and constitutes the second largest defense budget in the world. It is also one of the fastest modernizing militaries in the world, and has been termed as a potential military superpower, with significant regional defense and rising global power projection capabilities. Per Business Insider in 2018, the PLA is the world's second-most powerful military.

PRC law explicitly affirms the leadership of the party over the armed forces of the People's Republic and designates the CMC (Central Military Commission) as the nationwide military command of the People's Republic of China. The Party CMC operates under the name of the State CMC for legal and governmental functions and as the ceremonial Ministry of National Defense for diplomatic functions. The PLA is obliged to follow the principle of the Communist Party's absolute civilian control of the military under the doctrine of "the party commands the gun" (Dǎng zhǐhuī qiāng-党指挥枪)-taken from a speech given by Mao Zedong during an emergency meeting of top party leadership on the 7th of August 1927 at the beginning of the Chinese civil war. Its commander-in-chief is the Chairman of the Central Military Commission (customarily also the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party). Since 1949, China has used nine different military strategies, which the PLA calls "strategic guidelines". The most important came in 1956, 1980, and 1993. In times of national emergency, the People's Armed Police and the China Militia act as a reserve and support element for the People's Liberation Army Ground Force.

> 2015 > The belief that China will soon become the dominant power in Asia is based on assumptions that its continued and rapid economic rise, and its emergence as a regional peer of America’s in military terms is all but assured. Such a belief underpins arguments that a fundamental strategic re-organization of Asia is inevitable, and that it will be necessary and perhaps even desirable to concede to China significant ‘strategic space’. Dependent largely on linear extrapolations about the future, such arguments ignore the implications of China’s economic, social and national fragilities, its lack of major friends or allies in the region as well as the considerable military deficiencies and challenges faced by the People’s Liberation Army. With the Defence White Paper due for release in 2015, the government should bear in mind that planning for an era of Chinese dominance in the region—or even its emergence as an American strategic peer in Asia—would be premature if not improbable. Australia should not design its defence force for war with China, but it should be able to counter Chinese coercion and contribute to Allied military operations if necessary.

How China could win the new global arms race: China is building up its armed forces at a rapid pace. Its advances in missile technology, nuclear weapons and artificial intelligence have triggered serious concern among many Western observers, who believe a profound shift in the global balance of military power is under way. President Xi Jinping has ordered China's armed forces to modernize by 2035. They should, he says, become a "world-class" military power, capable of "fighting and winning wars" by 2049. China has been criticised by some international experts for a "lack of transparency" over how much it spends on defence, and an "inconsistent reporting of figures". Beijing does publish official spending data, but Western estimates of China's financial support for its armed forces are often significantly higher. It is widely believed that China currently spends more on its armed forces than any country except the US.

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Wednesday, June 13, 2012

PLA - Xina's Military

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