President Xi Jinping has announced major structural reforms of the People’s Liberation Army and has said that China’s 2.3-million-member strong armed forces needs to focus on winning wars as their central task.
Under the reforms, China’s military has set up 15 new units, including an anti-corruption unit, a logistics and development service and a political work unit as part of an ongoing drive to modernise the world’s largest armed forces.
China's military is not a national military but is under the command of the Communist Party, and one of Mr Xi's titles is chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), which controls the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
“CMC organs must concentrate on the study of military affairs, wars and how to fight battles, and strengthen their awareness in preparing for war at any time,” Mr Xi was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.
“CMC organs must measure their work by the only fundamental standard of whether troops’ fighting abilities can be improved,” he said.
Meeting heads of the newly organised military units, Mr Xi stressed the need to “unswervingly follow the Communist Party’s absolute leadership over the armed forces”.
The reforms come at a time of heightened tensions in Asia over China's territorial ambitions in the South China Sea and other areas. North Korea's recent claim of a nuclear test has also unnerved neighbours.
In an editorial in the Nikkei Asian Review, Tetsuro Kosoka wrote that China's reforms to the PLA posed a great potential threat to neighbouring countries.
“These reforms, if successful, could turn the Chinese military into a strong, modern force easily employed by the Communist Party to intimidate neighboring nations. They perhaps warrant more attention than the introduction of new equipment, including stealth fighters and aircraft carriers,” the editorial said.
At the end of last year, Mr Xi oversaw ceremonies to inaugurate two new branches of the PLA: the Rocket Force and the Strategic Support Force, and the 15 new units announced on Tuesday follow on from that decision.
Less unwieldy
As part of efforts to make the country’s colossal military less unwieldy, the PLA is losing 300,000 personnel. The aim of consolidating the military is to make it easier for the PLA to upgrade hardware and integrate new weapons systems.
“The new structure highlights the absolute authority of the Party over the military, ensuring that the Party will uphold its firm command of the gun. The reform is comprehensive, profound and has great vision,” the Global Times newspaper said in a commentary.
A significant part of the reorganisation involves beefing up the navy, and there has been heavy investment in submarines and aircraft carriers, while the air force is developing stealth fighters.
The Rocket Force’s main mission will be strategic deterrence and it will control nuclear and conventionally armed ballistic and cruise missiles.
The process of reorganising the military has been going on for some time, and the reforms come as the PLA's reputation has been tarnished by the government's anti-corruption campaign, which has netted many senior soldiers, including two former vice-chairmen of the Central Military Commission, Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou.
Mr Xi was quoted by state media saying that the armed forces to be “loyal, clean and responsible” and they should learn “profound lessons” from the Xu and Guo cases.
