China creates 3 new army units to modernize military

[rooster59]

China creates 3 new army units to modernize military

BEIJING (AP) — China has created three new military bodies as part of reforms to modernize its military — the world's largest standing force — and improve its fighting capacity.

State television on Saturday showed President Xi Jinping giving military flags to the leaders of the three new units — a general command for the People's Liberation Army, a missile force and a strategic support force. At the ceremony, which took place Thursday, Xi and PLA officers and soldiers sang the national anthem.

Xi said the three new units were created as part of a modernization reform and "to realize the Chinese dream of a strong military."

He has promulgated the idea of a "Chinese dream" involving "the great renewal of the Chinese nation" and sees a strong military as key to this.

The military reform comes as China has become more assertive in pressing its claims to territory in the East China Sea and South China Sea, increasing tensions with its neighbors.

In a bid to show China poses no expansionist threat, Xi announced in September that he would reduce China's 2.3 million-strong army by 300,000 troops. However, it will still remain the world's largest.

Described by Xi as a "core force of strategic deterrence," the PLA Rocket Force will replace the Second Artillery Force in controlling China's nuclear arsenal and conventional missiles. The new Strategic Support Force will likely focus on cyber warfare.

Other reform plans include phasing out old equipment and developing new weapons systems.

The reforms also tighten the party's leadership over the army. It used to be supervised by four headquarters, while now the army's general command is controlled directly by the Central Military Commission, whose chairman is Xi.

The military has been the focus of an anticorruption campaign spearheaded by Xi. The two highest-ranking officers to be accused of taking bribes were vice-chairmen of the Central Military Commission.

-- (c) Associated Press 2016-01-02

[ExpatOilWorker]

Please tell me one single nation with a strong army that has NOT used it aggressively outside their own borders throughout history?

Unfortunately they have all done it.

[Credo]

Some armies have the distinction of having killed more of their own people than foreign combatant. China is one of those countries. Thailand is another.

[oneday]

I thought for sure one unit was going to be for building bases on fake Pacific Atolls so China can steal more land/ocean for their burgeoning empire built on deception and subterfuge.

[Srikcir]

"The military has been the focus of an anticorruption campaign spearheaded by Xi."

The one area of reform that the Thai autocracy will not be tempted to copy.

[Scott]

An off-topic post has been removed. Let's please stick to the Chinese army. Comparisons with other country's military is acceptable.

[LawrenceChee]

The CCP is getting better in understanding that bigger while ideal is a funds drainer and being strategic these days is better

There are not a lot of dumb people who would start a war with China ...while bombing may work for a while , actually taking over the country by land forces is impossible

[ggt]

Why on earth would China need to create 3 new army units? It already has by far the largest army in the world!

Rank Country Active Military: 1 People's Republic of China 2,285,000

2 United States of America 1,361,755

3 India 1,325,450

4 North Korea 1,190,000

5 Russian Federation 766,055

http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/29-largest-armies-in-the-world.html

By contrast...the US has been reducing it's force...relying more on drone technology and the air force...

Edited January 2, 2016 by ggt

[jdlancaster]

Modernizing is important for force projection. Force projection is all about offensive power. This gives more political clout in international diplomacy. They are waiting for the day they can more strongly push their claims.

Though I don't think anyone wants to start a war... the 9 dash line issue and Taiwan is going to go from a spark to fire one day when China thinks it's strong enough. I think the war will be over those two issues, and I don't think anyone's objective would be to conquer China, but rather to try for regime change or renounce claims on Thailand and the 9-dash line. China has an anti-secession law (2005) for Taiwan saying they will invade if they claim independance. What happens if a political group gains power in Taiwan that wants that?

I think a major issue is I don't think any regional powers will be strong enough to stand up to China and may have difficulty working well together. Also, not sure if the US will have the stomach or strength when that day comes. Not really sure what other powers would be willing to step in. Would Europe commit militarily?

[Publicus]

Modernizing is important for force projection. Force projection is all about offensive power. This gives more political clout in international diplomacy. They are waiting for the day they can more strongly push their claims.

Though I don't think anyone wants to start a war... the 9 dash line issue and Taiwan is going to go from a spark to fire one day when China thinks it's strong enough. I think the war will be over those two issues, and I don't think anyone's objective would be to conquer China, but rather to try for regime change or renounce claims on Thailand and the 9-dash line. China has an anti-secession law (2005) for Taiwan saying they will invade if they claim independance. What happens if a political group gains power in Taiwan that wants that?

I think a major issue is I don't think any regional powers will be strong enough to stand up to China and may have difficulty working well together. Also, not sure if the US will have the stomach or strength when that day comes. Not really sure what other powers would be willing to step in. Would Europe commit militarily?

CCP know that before they could become a global superpower they must first become a regional power. This is the core of the CCP's belligerence and bellicosity in the waters and seas around it, most notably in the South China Sea, but also the East Sea against Japan.

The USA "Pivot to the Pacific" announced in 2011 at an Asean conference by then SecState Clinton is to refocus the US to the Pacific-India strategic region. The rebalance is in trade such as the TPP, in economics with investments, and militarily with 60% of the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force relocated to the overall strategic region by 2020. The Navy and Air Force have already moved into the SCS.

CCP with its failing economy and financial system would find it challenging in even the best of times to become a regional power. It is checkmated by Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the majority of very nervous Asean countries, Australia, NZ, India. Japanese PM Shinzo Abe calls this vast area the "Democracy Diamond" from Hawaii to Australia, to India, back across Asean to S Korea and Japan.

For all the focus on Taiwan, the island country is a CCP diversion. There won't be any war over Taiwan.

Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party which advocates independence is poised to win the January 16th election by an expected decisive result. No one should expect a revolution as a direct result or consequence, but the CCP Dictators in Beijing already are getting serious indigestion over it.

Taiwan's coastline consists of rocks, mountains, crevases, ridges, not welcoming sandy beaches. Taiwan is well prepared to defend itself if its strategy of deterrence proves to be unsuccessful. Deterrence by Taiwan means to convince the CCP and its PLA that it will be much too costly to them to attempt a cross-strait amphibious invasion. (In 100 years of modern warfare China has never attempted a large scale amphibious invasion.) Further, CCP Dictators in Beijing know an invasion of Taiwan would provoke a regional and global reaction a hundred times more severe than the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. It would explode the powder keg, which is why CCP will not undertake to do it or any such thing. If the CCP would have its PLA invade Taiwan, then Japan would need to accept it would be next....South Korea...Australia. So there won't be any invasion of Taiwan.

These three new commands under the CCP Central Military Commission are a merging of existing elite units, to include the already existing Second Artillery Corps which has almost all the PLA missiles right on up to nuclear warhead missiles. The PLA itself is a lethargic political force commanded by doctrinaire CCPs. PLA is incapable of defeating Russia on the Asian continent. Vietnam could once again give the PLA a run for its money, as it did when PLA invaded briefly in 1979. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (navy) is smaller but better than the bulky and slow PLA Navy (PLAN).

CCP have for 20 years focused on (stealing) high-tech warfare which is what these units are about. Cyberwarfare to blind satellites and to by all electromagnetic means to darken the Pentagon. This is the focus and these units are the key. CCP has spent a score of years working on a weapon to counter each and every weapon the United States has, and then some. CCP believes its elite units can take it where it wants to go, much akin to how the SS led Hitler's conventional Wehrmacht to victories. Twenty-first century CCP mode.

All of which confirms that nothing good to humanity has ever come from a one party state.

Edited January 2, 2016 by Publicus

[Brit_Doggie]

Well gl to them not that I think it wrong but my gf son entered active duty for Thailand in south Thailand for muslim related actions 30 days later 15 days leave then back to duty for 10 days and a further 10 days leave, only wish I had a better holiday scheme back in the uk lol.

Edited January 2, 2016 by Brit_Doggie

[jdlancaster]

Modernizing is important for force projection. Force projection is all about offensive power. This gives more political clout in international diplomacy. They are waiting for the day they can more strongly push their claims.

Though I don't think anyone wants to start a war... the 9 dash line issue and Taiwan is going to go from a spark to fire one day when China thinks it's strong enough. I think the war will be over those two issues, and I don't think anyone's objective would be to conquer China, but rather to try for regime change or renounce claims on Thailand and the 9-dash line. China has an anti-secession law (2005) for Taiwan saying they will invade if they claim independance. What happens if a political group gains power in Taiwan that wants that?

I think a major issue is I don't think any regional powers will be strong enough to stand up to China and may have difficulty working well together. Also, not sure if the US will have the stomach or strength when that day comes. Not really sure what other powers would be willing to step in. Would Europe commit militarily?

CCP know that before they could become a global superpower they must first become a regional power. This is the core of the CCP's belligerence and bellicosity in the waters and seas around it, most notably in the South China Sea, but also the East Sea against Japan.

The USA "Pivot to the Pacific" announced in 2011 at an Asean conference by then SecState Clinton is to refocus the US to the Pacific-India strategic region. The rebalance is in trade such as the TPP, in economics with investments, and militarily with 60% of the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force relocated to the overall strategic region by 2020. The Navy and Air Force have already moved into the SCS.

CCP with its failing economy and financial system would find it challenging in even the best of times to become a regional power. It is checkmated by Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the majority of very nervous Asean countries, Australia, NZ, India. Japanese PM Shinzo Abe calls this vast area the "Democracy Diamond" from Hawaii to Australia, to India, back across Asean to S Korea and Japan.

For all the focus on Taiwan, the island country is a CCP diversion. There won't be any war over Taiwan.

Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party which advocates independence is poised to win the January 16th election by an expected decisive result. No one should expect a revolution as a direct result or consequence, but the CCP Dictators in Beijing already are getting serious indigestion over it.

Taiwan's coastline consists of rocks, mountains, crevases, ridges, not welcoming sandy beaches. Taiwan is well prepared to defend itself if its strategy of deterrence proves to be unsuccessful. Deterrence by Taiwan means to convince the CCP and its PLA that it will be much too costly to them to attempt a cross-strait amphibious invasion. (In 100 years of modern warfare China has never attempted a large scale amphibious invasion.) Further, CCP Dictators in Beijing know an invasion of Taiwan would provoke a regional and global reaction a hundred times more severe than the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. It would explode the powder keg, which is why CCP will not undertake to do it or any such thing. If the CCP would have its PLA invade Taiwan, then Japan would need to accept it would be next....South Korea...Australia. So there won't be any invasion of Taiwan.

These three new commands under the CCP Central Military Commission are a merging of existing elite units, to include the already existing Second Artillery Corps which has almost all the PLA missiles right on up to nuclear warhead missiles. The PLA itself is a lethargic political force commanded by doctrinaire CCPs. PLA is incapable of defeating Russia on the Asian continent. Vietnam could once again give the PLA a run for its money, as it did when PLA invaded briefly in 1979. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (navy) is smaller but better than the bulky and slow PLA Navy (PLAN).

CCP have for 20 years focused on (stealing) high-tech warfare which is what these units are about. Cyberwarfare to blind satellites and to by all electromagnetic means to darken the Pentagon. This is the focus and these units are the key. CCP has spent a score of years working on a weapon to counter each and every weapon the United States has, and then some. CCP believes its elite units can take it where it wants to go, much akin to how the SS led Hitler's conventional Wehrmacht to victories. Twenty-first century CCP mode.

All of which confirms that nothing good to humanity has ever come from a one party state.

All great comments...I don't know too much on chinese politics, How much control does Xi have over his party? Is he strong enough to dictate policy or start wars? Is he irrational enough for them to start something, or what do you think they will do if the TCPP calls for independance? What are CCPs options?

[Publicus]

The three new army commands are the Chairman Xi Jinping parallel and super PLA. Xi is circumventing the PLA which he cannot master to create his own political armed forces. Xi has assembled in one place under his direct control the several elite PLA units that since year 2000 are well recruited, rigorously trained and proficient in modern high tech warfare.

Xi however won't be starting any wars anytime soon....or at least not by deliberate design.

PLA remains a diverse and dispersed collection of regional military districts that quickly become far flung across the CCP China. The PLA commander of each military district is an incarnation of the long reigning Chinese war lord. Xi tried to counter this didactic regionalism by reorganising the military districts and by appointing his own commanders responsive directly to Beijing. No dice. It's the old Chinese saying, "The mountains are high and the emperor is far away." So emperor Xi has formed his own military force and put it right there in Beijing.

Given that everyone is corrupt Xi's anti-corruption campaign has purged most of his enemies in the Party. Xi and the economics reformers still don't have control over the PLA, the economy or the financial system however. Xi won't have control until former president (and resident emperor) Jiang Zemin is disposed of, which is much easier said than done. Even at 89 years old Jiang remains powerful, persistent, pervasive in the CCP and against economics reform.

After Jiang and his party loyalists sabotaged the stock market during the summer Xi's closest advisers have urged Xi to move against Jiang. To put Jiang under house arrest. Xi has already disposed of Jiang's number one operative in the government, chief of security Zhou Yongkang. Zhou as a member of the Politburo Standing Committee is a very big fish, probably more like a whale. Jiang's son has finally been purged from his perch running the internet, communications technology, media. But Jiang himself remains at large.

Xi is at least as powerful as Deng Xiaopeng if not moreso. But he still can't corral Jiang Zemin and the CCP powerful anti-reform faction Jiang commands. They keep popping up everywhere, repeatedly. Xi put two PLA generals in prison for two separate coup plots instigated by Jiang. But Xi can't yet lay a glove on Jiang himself. Neither could Xi's predecessor and ally Hu Jintao who was constantly obstructed and tied up by Jiang and his party people.

So Xi has decided to create his own army.

[ExpatOilWorker]

Delete

Edited January 3, 2016 by ExpatOilWorker

[ExpatOilWorker]

The three new army commands are the Chairman Xi Jinping parallel and super PLA. Xi is circumventing the PLA which he cannot master to create his own political armed forces. Xi has assembled in one place under his direct control the several elite PLA units that since year 2000 are well recruited, rigorously trained and proficient in modern high tech warfare.

Xi however won't be starting any wars anytime soon....or at least not by deliberate design.

PLA remains a diverse and dispersed collection of regional military districts that quickly become far flung across the CCP China. The PLA commander of each military district is an incarnation of the long reigning Chinese war lord. Xi tried to counter this didactic regionalism by reorganising the military districts and by appointing his own commanders responsive directly to Beijing. No dice. It's the old Chinese saying, "The mountains are high and the emperor is far away." So emperor Xi has formed his own military force and put it right there in Beijing.

Given that everyone is corrupt Xi's anti-corruption campaign has purged most of his enemies in the Party. Xi and the economics reformers still don't have control over the PLA, the economy or the financial system however. Xi won't have control until former president (and resident emperor) Jiang Zemin is disposed of, which is much easier said than done. Even at 89 years old Jiang remains powerful, persistent, pervasive in the CCP and against economics reform.

After Jiang and his party loyalists sabotaged the stock market during the summer Xi's closest advisers have urged Xi to move against Jiang. To put Jiang under house arrest. Xi has already disposed of Jiang's number one operative in the government, chief of security Zhou Yongkang. Zhou as a member of the Politburo Standing Committee is a very big fish, probably more like a whale. Jiang's son has finally been purged from his perch running the internet, communications technology, media. But Jiang himself remains at large.

Xi is at least as powerful as Deng Xiaopeng if not moreso. But he still can't corral Jiang Zemin and the CCP powerful anti-reform faction Jiang commands. They keep popping up everywhere, repeatedly. Xi put two PLA generals in prison for two separate coup plots instigated by Jiang. But Xi can't yet lay a glove on Jiang himself. Neither could Xi's predecessor and ally Hu Jintao who was constantly obstructed and tied up by Jiang and his party people.

So Xi has decided to create his own army.

War and the reasons to go to war is not always logical. Could internal forces, the 40 million gender gap, the need for an external enemy, etc., "force" China to start a military campaign outside their own borders?

If so where?

A nuclear Pearl Harbor in the heartland of the US? Protecting assets in some backwater state in Africa? Using the now to be build rail lines and expand through Laos and Thailand all the way to Malaysia?

[Publicus]

No.

CCP have been keenly aware since Deng Xiaopeng that war at the wrong time would defeat their own purposes. CCP still cannot afford or sustain a war without severe self-defeating economic damage accompanied by international approbation.

Which is why it can be said Xi Jinping and the PLA aren't going to be fighting any wars of design or on purpose. Yes of course, they could stumble into a war. But Deng's prohibition against war until the right time remains set in concrete, and the right time was always going to be well on from Deng's time.

Given current negative trends in the CCP economy, initiating war would be even more presently self-destructive. CCP have spent 30 years constructing a house that, while rickety, lopsided, crooked, sagging and creaking, is the only house they have. They can accept losing it because the economy crashes, but CCP knows it cannot make the blunder of losing it by going to war too soon.

CCP needs and must have peace, prosperity for itself, domestic order.

CCP have strayed somewhat from Deng's doctrine to present a peaceful rise, but not by much. CCP led by Xi will not press hard militarily over the SCS or in the East Sea against Japan. They'll continue to make loud noises but not much more than that. CCP is also busy trying hard to figure a way to work with the independence oriented DPP on Taiwan which is expected to comfortably win the January 16 election.

Nothing says a war of some kind can't break out for any number of unforseen reasons or causes. CCP however is just not yet in the war making business. It's a very bad business for the CCP for some time to come, still.

[chilli42]

This is a very clever man. He uses the pretext of anti corruption to root out the old political and military cronies that stand in his way. At the same time he gradually takes control of the military and doles out rank and prestige to those in key PLA positions who will be beholding to him. He is not that far from having complete vitriol of government and military. He will be the most powerful leader China has had since Mao. My bet is that his agenda is transformational change in China. The Spratleys are just a side show. The US is not going to fall on the sword over them, China and US know this, it's Xi's way to get the military and population on his side by waving the populist/nations list flag. Stay tuned, big changes ahead for China.

[Dumbastheycome]

An off-topic post has been removed. Let's please stick to the Chinese army. Comparisons with other country's military is acceptable.

So be it. The USA has its military foot in and on islands all over the globe. Less than before after being required to exit and still arguing legitimacy of presence on others. How more or less legitimate is China's claim to territory that has artificially been created rather than occupied whether it is 1 kilometre or 100 kilometres from the mainland?

[jdlancaster]

An off-topic post has been removed. Let's please stick to the Chinese army. Comparisons with other country's military is acceptable.

So be it. The USA has its military foot in and on islands all over the globe. Less than before after being required to exit and still arguing legitimacy of presence on others. How more or less legitimate is China's claim to territory that has artificially been created rather than occupied whether it is 1 kilometre or 100 kilometres from the mainland?

This is rather simple, China is a signatory to United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). That definines what is and what is not legal. So UNCLOS says they have no claim. Every issue before UNCLOS is irrelevant. Doesn't matter if it is the US, UK, or any other country including China.

[Publicus]

 

This is a very clever man. He uses the pretext of anti corruption to root out the old political and military cronies that stand in his way. At the same time he gradually takes control of the military and doles out rank and prestige to those in key PLA positions who will be beholding to him. He is not that far from having complete vitriol of government and military. He will be the most powerful leader China has had since Mao. My bet is that his agenda is transformational change in China. The Spratleys are just a side show. The US is not going to fall on the sword over them, China and US know this, it's Xi's way to get the military and population on his side by waving the populist/nations list flag. Stay tuned, big changes ahead for China.

Beg to differ.

Perry Link of UC Riverside and a co-translator of the Tiananmen Papers had long noted that Xi Jinping is a man of "modest intellectual gifts."

Xi's supposed anti-corruption campaign which for the most part sells well on the mainland is more than transparent anywhere else. Xi is unmistakably going after political enemies since taking office in 2011 as party chairman (president) yet Xi remains on tenuous ground. Xi has imprisoned a number of tiger political foes yet he remains surrounded by them.

Xi keeps talking about a "new relationship of powers" meaning of course for the United States to get out of the CCP's revanchist and irredentist ways. Yet President Obama won't let Xi in through the door on the notion of the CCP being the equal or superior of the United States. It indeed is neither nor will it be either.

Xi's economic reforms are dead in the water and his cohort PM Li Kejiang is spinning his wheels too. Both are working together to hang on until the next personnel changes to the Politburo 7-member Standing Committee next year. Xi and Li are outnumbered 5-2 by the Committee members of their nemesis Jiang Zemin, the 89 year old powerful emperor who is also a former president. Xi has been stymied by Jiang, can't overcome Jiang's resistance to reform, yet can't bring himself to take the anti-corruption campaign to Jiang's doorstep. Xi is powerful over the people, weak within the high walls of ZhongNanHai.

Censorship hasn't ever been worse than it is now to include the awful censorship of Xi's successors, Hu Jintao and Jiang in particular. Xi is haunted by the memory of Gorbechev so he's determined not to allow a CCP China glasnost at any cost. Yet Xi and Li are miserable drivers of the Chinese perestroika CCP needs to impose.

Xi's adventurism in the waters and seas of the region have Asean countries buying submarines and signing new strategic agreements with one another. Inida PM Marinda Modi has signed new strategic agreements with Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia, Singapore, United States. PM Modi has flipped CCP off after Xi said to Modi's face in Beijing the "Indian Ocean is not Indian." But that the South China Sea is China's. CCP claims the northern third of India as Chinese territory. Indeed, CCP claims more of other countries' territory outside of the country than exists in it.

CCP Boyz are klutzes throughout the region and the larger world. Actual GDP is sinking fast, deflation has set in, unemployment is at record levels, banks are bone dry of liquidity, the central bank is selling US bills and notes because they need the usd cash desperately, the housing bubble that's bursting is hitting harder each month, the debt to DGP ratio has gone from 250% in January last year to 283% as of last month. One could go on.

Xi has set up his private army because he can't master or manage the regional warlords of the PLA in their sprawling military regions and districts of the CCP China. Xi Jinping is in short in over his head.

[Dumbastheycome]

An off-topic post has been removed. Let's please stick to the Chinese army. Comparisons with other country's military is acceptable.

So be it. The USA has its military foot in and on islands all over the globe. Less than before after being required to exit and still arguing legitimacy of presence on others. How more or less legitimate is China's claim to territory that has artificially been created rather than occupied whether it is 1 kilometre or 100 kilometres from the mainland?

This is rather simple, China is a signatory to United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). That definines what is and what is not legal. So UNCLOS says they have no claim. Every issue before UNCLOS is irrelevant. Doesn't matter if it is the US, UK, or any other country including China.

Irrelevant? I am confused. But relevant yes. ONLY if claim is (allowed) to be challenged.

[jdlancaster]

An off-topic post has been removed. Let's please stick to the Chinese army. Comparisons with other country's military is acceptable.

So be it. The USA has its military foot in and on islands all over the globe. Less than before after being required to exit and still arguing legitimacy of presence on others. How more or less legitimate is China's claim to territory that has artificially been created rather than occupied whether it is 1 kilometre or 100 kilometres from the mainland?

This is rather simple, China is a signatory to United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). That definines what is and what is not legal. So UNCLOS says they have no claim. Every issue before UNCLOS is irrelevant. Doesn't matter if it is the US, UK, or any other country including China.

Irrelevant? I am confused. But relevant yes. ONLY if claim is (allowed) to be challenged.

Yes, your issues with the US are irrelevant. The USA having military footprints on natural islands all over the globe is irrelevant to the issue of the legitimacy of the 9-dash line or the legality of China's claims. There is a distinction between everything before and after UNCLOS. (China agreed to this). The whole point of the islands is to press claims on territorial waters and exclusive economic zones (and for military use). I get you don't like US foreign policy... but it's irrelevant to the legality of China's claims.

"Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea treaty (UNCLOS), artificial islands are not considered harbor works (Article 11) and are under the jurisdiction of the nearest coastal state if within 200 nautical miles (370 km) (Article 56).^[10] Artificial islands are not considered islands for purposes of having their own territorial waters or exclusive economic zones, and only the coastal state may authorize their construction (Article 60); however, on the high seas beyond national jurisdiction, any "state" may construct artificial islands (Article 87)"

That means they can create islands but they don't allow for territorial waters or exclusive economic zones. Imagine if the US started to create islands off of the Chinese coast? UNCLOS was made to prevent such provocative behavior. And at least one claim is going to be heard so far... and more will come... Freedom of navigation is important to the world economy...

Edited January 3, 2016 by jdlancaster