The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the armed wing of the
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
(CCP) and the principal military force of the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. The PLA consists of five
service branches: the
Ground Force
''Ground Force'' was a British garden makeover television series originally broadcast by the BBC between 1997 and 2005. The series was originally hosted by Alan Titchmarsh, Charlie Dimmock and Tommy Walsh.
Production
The series was created b ...
,
Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...
,
Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...
,
Rocket Force, and
Strategic Support Force. It is under the leadership of the
Central Military Commission (CMC) with its
chairman as
commander-in-chief.
The PLA can trace its origins during the
Republican Era Republican Era can refer to:
* Minguo calendar, the official era of the Republic of China
It may also refer to any era in a country's history when it was governed as a republic or by a Republican Party. In particular, it may refer to:
* Roman Rep ...
to the left-wing units of the
National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
(KMT) when they broke away in 1927 in an
uprising
Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority.
A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
against the
nationalist government as the
Chinese Red Army
The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army or Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, commonly known as the Chinese Red Army or simply the Red Army, are the armed forces of the Chinese Communist Party. It was formed when Communis ...
, before being reintegrated into the NRA as units of
New Fourth Army
The New Fourth Army () was a unit of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China established in 1937. In contrast to most of the National Revolutionary Army, it was controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and not by the ruling Ku ...
and
Eighth Route Army during the
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
. The two NRA communist units were reconstituted as the PLA in 1947.
Since 1949, the PLA has used nine different military strategies, which it calls "strategic guidelines". The most important came in 1956, 1980, and 1993.
In times of national emergency, the
People's Armed Police (PAP) and the
China Militia act as a reserve and support element for the Ground Force. Politically, the PLA and PAP are represented in the
National People's Congress
The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China.
With 2,9 ...
(NPC) through a delegation of 285 deputies, all of whom are CCP members. Since the formation of the NPC, the joint PLA–PAP delegation has always constituted the largest delegation and today comprises just over 9% of the NPC.
PRC law explicitly asserts the leadership of the CCP over the armed forces of China and designates the CMC 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 the ceremonial
Ministry of National Defense
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
is limited to diplomatic functions. The PLA is obliged to follow the principle of the CCP's absolute
civilian control of the military
Civilian control of the military is a doctrine in military and political science that places ultimate responsibility for a country's strategic decision-making in the hands of the civilian political leadership, rather than professional military ...
under the doctrine of "
the party commands the gun" () In this sense, the PLA is not a national army of the type of traditional nation-states, but a political army or the armed branch of the CCP itself since its allegiance is to the party only and not the state or any constitution. At present, the CMC chairman is customarily also the CCP
general secretary.
Today, the 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 (not including paramilitary or reserve forces) and has the second largest defense budget in the world. China's military expenditure was US$292 billion in 2022, accounting for
13 percent of the world's defense expenditures. 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.
Stated mission
In 2004,
paramount leader Hu Jintao stated the mission of the PLA as:
* The insurance of CCP leadership
* The protection of the sovereignty, territorial integrity, internal security and national development of the People's Republic of China
* Safeguarding the country's interests
* Maintaining and safeguarding
world peace
World peace, or peace on Earth, is the concept of an ideal state of peace within and among all people and nations on Planet Earth. Different cultures, religions, philosophies, and organizations have varying concepts on how such a state would ...
History
Early history
The CCP founded its military wing on 1 August 1927 during the
Nanchang uprising, beginning the
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...
. Communist elements of the
National Revolutionary Army rebelled under the leadership of
Zhu De
Zhu De (; ; also Chu Teh; 1 December 1886 – 6 July 1976) was a Chinese general, military strategist, politician and revolutionary in the Chinese Communist Party. Born into poverty in 1886 in Sichuan, he was adopted by a wealthy uncle at ...
,
He Long
He Long (; March 22, 1896 – June 9, 1969) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary and one of the ten marshals of the People's Liberation Army. He was from a poor rural family in Hunan, and his family was not able to provide him with any formal ...
,
Ye Jianying
Ye Jianying (; 28 April 1897 – 22 October 1986) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary leader and politician, one of the founding Ten Marshals of the People's Republic of China. He was the top military leader in the 1976 coup that overthre ...
,
Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 January 1976. Zhou served under Chairman Ma ...
, and other leftist elements of the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
(KMT), after the
Shanghai massacre
The Shanghai massacre of 12 April 1927, the April 12 Purge or the April 12 Incident as it is commonly known in China, was the violent suppression of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organizations and leftist elements in Shanghai by forces supportin ...
in 1927. They were then known as the
Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army
The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army or Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, commonly known as the Chinese Red Army or simply the Red Army, are the armed forces of the Chinese Communist Party. It was formed when Communist ...
, or simply the Red Army.
In 1934 and 1935, the Red Army survived several campaigns led against it by
Chiang Kai-Shek's KMT and engaged in the
Long March
The Long March (, lit. ''Long Expedition'') was a military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the National Army of the Chinese ...
.
During the
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
from 1937 to 1945, the CCP's military forces were nominally integrated into the National Revolutionary Army of the
Republic of China forming two main units, the
Eighth Route Army and the
New Fourth Army
The New Fourth Army () was a unit of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China established in 1937. In contrast to most of the National Revolutionary Army, it was controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and not by the ruling Ku ...
.
During this time, these two military groups primarily employed
guerrilla tactics
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run ta ...
, generally avoiding large-scale battles with the Japanese, at the same time consolidating by recruiting KMT troops and paramilitary forces behind Japanese lines into their forces.
After the
Japanese surrender
The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ( ...
in 1945, the CCP continued to use the National Revolutionary Army unit structures until the decision was made in February 1947 to merge the Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army, renaming the new million-strong force the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
The reorganization was completed by late 1948. The PLA eventually won the Chinese Civil War, establishing the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
in 1949. It then underwent a drastic reorganization, with the establishment of the
Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...
leadership structure in November 1949, followed by the
Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...
leadership structure the following April.
In 1950, the leadership structures of the artillery, armored troops, air defense troops, public security forces, and worker–soldier militias were also established. The chemical warfare defense forces, the railroad forces, the communications forces, and the strategic forces, as well as other separate forces (like engineering and construction, logistics and medical services), were established later on.
In this early period, the People's Liberation Army overwhelmingly consisted of peasants.
Its treatment of soldiers and officers was egalitarian
and formal ranks were not adopted until 1955. As a result of its egalitarian organization, the early PLA overturned strict traditional hierarchies that governed the lives of peasants.
As sociologist Alessandro Russo summarizes, the peasant composition of the PLA hierarchy was a radical break with Chinese societal norms and "overturned the strict traditional hierarchies in unprecedented forms of egalitarianism
Modernization and conflicts
![Chinese troops leaving Korea](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Chinese_troops_leaving_Korea.jpg)
During the 1950s, the PLA with Soviet assistance began to transform itself from a peasant army into a modern one. Since 1949, China has used nine different military strategies, which the PLA calls "strategic guidelines". The most important came in 1956, 1980, and 1993.
Part of this process was the reorganization that created thirteen military regions in 1955. The PLA also contained many former National Revolutionary Army units and generals who had defected to the PLA.
In November 1950, some units of the PLA under the name of the
People's Volunteer Army intervened in the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
as United Nations forces under General
Douglas MacArthur approached the
Yalu River
The Yalu River, known by Koreans as the Amrok River or Amnok River, is a river on the border between North Korea and China. Together with the Tumen River to its east, and a small portion of Paektu Mountain, the Yalu forms the border between ...
.
Under the weight of this offensive, Chinese forces drove MacArthur's forces out of North Korea and captured
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...
, but were subsequently pushed back south of Pyongyang north of the
38th Parallel.
The war also catalyzed the rapid modernization of the PLAAF.
In 1962, the PLA ground force also fought India in the
Sino-Indian War
The Sino-Indian War took place between China and India from October to November 1962, as a major flare-up of the Sino-Indian border dispute. There had been a series of violent border skirmishes between the two countries after the 1959 Tibet ...
. In
a series of border clashes in 1967 with Indian troops, the PLA suffered heavy numerical and tactical losses.
Before the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...
, military region commanders tended to remain in their posts for long periods. As the PLA took a stronger role in politics, this began to be seen as somewhat of a threat to the CCP's (or, at least, civilian) control of the military. The longest-serving military region commanders were
Xu Shiyou
Xu Shiyou (; 1906–1985) was a general in the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
Early career
Born in Xinxian, Henan Province (it belonged to Hubei previously), Xu grew up studying martial arts at the Shaolin Temple for eight years and he later ...
in the
Nanjing Military Region (1954–74),
Yang Dezhi
Yang Dezhi (; January 13, 1911 – October 25, 1994) was a Chinese general and politician. He was senior military officer in the North China (or 5th) Field Army, a veteran of the Korean War and commander in China during the Sino–Vietnamese ...
in the
Jinan Military Region
The Jinan Military Region was a PLA Military Region located in the east of the People's Republic of China, covering the Shandong and Henan Provinces, which also formed military districts. It appears that Yang Dezhi was one of the first commander ...
(1958–74),
Chen Xilian
Chen Xilian (pronounced ; 4 January 1915 – 10 June 1999) was a Chinese military officer and politician, general of the People's Liberation Army. A prominent Mao Zedong, Maoist, he held very important positions in both military and political sph ...
in the
Shenyang Military Region
The Shenyang Military Region was one of seven military regions for the Chinese People's Liberation Army. It has command and control of military and armed police forces in the three northeast provinces of Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Liaoning, whi ...
(1959–73), and
Han Xianchu
Han Xianchu (; 1913–1986) was a general of the Chinese Communist Party. Han participated in many military campaigns and battles such as Battle of Pingxingguan, Liaoshen Campaign, Pingjin Campaign, Hainan Campaign, and the Korean War. In 195 ...
in the Fuzhou Military Region (1960–74).
In the early days of the Cultural Revolution, the PLA abandoned the use of the military ranks that it had adopted in 1955.
The establishment of a professional military force equipped with modern weapons and doctrine was the last of the
Four Modernizations announced by Zhou Enlai and supported by
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CCP ...
.
In keeping with Deng's mandate to reform, the PLA has demobilized millions of men and women since 1978 and has introduced modern methods in such areas as
recruitment and manpower,
strategy, and
education and training. In 1979, the PLA fought
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
over a border skirmish in the
Sino-Vietnamese War
The Sino-Vietnamese War (also known by other names) was a border war fought between China and Vietnam in early 1979. China launched an offensive in response to Vietnam's actions against the Khmer Rouge in 1978, which ended the rule of the C ...
where both sides claimed victory. However, western analysts agree that Vietnam handily outperformed the PLA.
During the
Sino-Soviet split
The Sino-Soviet split was the breaking of political relations between the China, People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union caused by Doctrine, doctrinal divergences that arose from their different interpretations and practical applications ...
, strained relations between China and the Soviet Union resulted in bloody border clashes and mutual backing of each other's adversaries. China and Afghanistan had neutral relations with each other during the King's rule.
[''China and Afghanistan'', Gerald Segal, Asian Survey, Vol. 21, No. 11 (Nov., 1981), University of California Press] When the pro-Soviet Afghan Communists seized power in Afghanistan in 1978, relations between China and the Afghan communists quickly turned hostile.
The Afghan pro-Soviet communists supported China's enemies in Vietnam and blamed China for supporting Afghan anticommunist militants.
China responded to the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan by supporting the
Afghan mujahidin and ramping up their military presence near Afghanistan in Xinjiang.
China acquired military equipment from the United States to defend itself from Soviet attacks.
The PLA Ground Force trained and supported the Afghan Mujahideen during the Soviet-Afghan War, moving its training camps for the mujahideen from Pakistan into China itself. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of anti-aircraft missiles, rocket launchers, and machine guns were given to the Mujahideen by the Chinese. Chinese military advisors and army troops were also present with the Mujahideen during training.
Since 1980
In 1981, the PLA conducted its largest
military exercise in North China since the founding of the People's Republic.
In the 1980s, China shrunk its military considerably to free up resources for
economic development
In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and ...
, resulting in the relative decline in resources devoted to the PLA. Following the
PLA's suppression of the
1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, ideological correctness was temporarily revived as the dominant theme in Chinese military affairs.
Reform and modernization have today resumed their position as the PLA's primary objectives, although the armed forces' political loyalty to the CCP has remained a leading concern. Another area of concern to the political leadership was the PLA's involvement in civilian economic activities. These activities were thought to have impacted PLA readiness and have led the political leadership to attempt to divest the PLA from its non-military business interests.
Beginning in the 1980s, the PLA tried to transform itself from a land-based power centered on a vast ground force to a smaller, more mobile, high-tech one capable of mounting operations beyond its borders.
The motivation for this was that a massive land invasion by Russia was no longer seen as a major threat, and the new threats to China are seen to be a declaration of independence by
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
, possibly with assistance from the United States, or a confrontation over the
Spratly Islands
The Spratly Islands ( fil, Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; zh, c=南沙群島/南沙群岛, s=, t=, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay, id, Kepulauan Spratly; vi, Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed ...
.
[The Political System of the People's Republic of China. Chief Editor Pu Xingzu, Shanghai, 2005, Shanghai People's Publishing House. , Chapter 11 The State Military System.]
In 1985, under the leadership of the
Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the CMC, the PLA changed from being constantly prepared to "hit early, strike hard and to fight a nuclear war" to developing the military in an era of peace.
The PLA reoriented itself to modernization, improving its fighting ability, and becoming a world-class force. Deng Xiaoping stressed that the PLA needed to focus more on quality rather than on quantity.
The decision of the Chinese government in 1985 to reduce the size of the military by one million was completed by 1987. Staffing in military leadership was cut by about 50 percent. During the Ninth Five Year Plan (1996–2000) the PLA was reduced by a further 500,000. The PLA had also been expected to be reduced by another 200,000 by 2005. The PLA has focused on increasing mechanization and informatization to be able to fight a high-intensity war.
![Chinese honor guard in column 070322-F-0193C-014](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Chinese_honor_guard_in_column_070322-F-0193C-014.JPEG)
Former CMC chairman
Jiang Zemin
Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pr ...
in 1990 called on the military to "meet political standards, be militarily competent, have a good working style, adhere strictly to discipline, and provide vigorous logistic support" (). The 1991
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
provided the Chinese leadership with a stark realization that the PLA was an oversized, almost-obsolete force.
The possibility of a militarized Japan has also been a continuous concern to the Chinese leadership since the late 1990s. In addition, China's military leadership has been reacting to and learning from the successes and failures of the
United States Armed Forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...
during the
Kosovo War
The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the wa ...
, the
2001 invasion of Afghanistan
In late 2001, the United States and its close allies invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban government. The invasion's aims were to dismantle al-Qaeda, which had executed the September 11 attacks, and to deny it a safe base of operati ...
, the
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
,
and the
Iraqi insurgency Iraqi insurgency may refer to:
* Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011), part of the Iraq War
** Iraqi insurgency (2003–2006), 2003–2006 phase of the Iraqi insurgency
** Iraqi civil war (2006–2008), multi-sided civil war in Iraq
* Iraqi insurgency (20 ...
.
All these lessons inspired China to transform the PLA from a military based on quantity to one based on quality. Chairman Jiang Zemin officially made a "
revolution in military affairs" (RMA) part of the official national military strategy in 1993 to
modernize the Chinese armed forces.
A goal of the RMA is to transform the PLA into a force capable of winning what it calls "local wars under high-tech conditions" rather than a massive, numbers-dominated ground-type war.
Chinese military planners call for short decisive campaigns, limited in both their geographic scope and their political goals. In contrast to the past, more attention is given to
reconnaissance
In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities.
Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...
, mobility, and deep reach. This new vision has shifted resources towards the navy and air force. The PLA is also actively preparing for
space warfare
Space warfare is hypothetical combat in which one or more belligerents are situated in outer space. The scope of space warfare therefore includes ''ground-to-space warfare'', such as attacking satellites from the Earth; ''space-to-space warfa ...
and
cyber-warfare.
In 2002, the PLA began holding military exercises with militaries from other countries.
From 2018 to 2023, more than half of these exercises have focused on military training other than war, generally antipiracy or antiterrorism exercises involving combatting non-state actors.
In 2009, the PLA held its first military exercise in Africa, a humanitarian and medical training practice conducted in Gabon.
For the past 10 to 20 years, the PLA has acquired some advanced weapons systems from Russia, including
Sovremenny class destroyers,
Sukhoi Su-27 and
Sukhoi Su-30
The Sukhoi Su-30 (russian: Сухой Су-30; NATO reporting name: Flanker-C/G/H) is a twin-engine, two-seat supermaneuverable fighter aircraft developed in the Soviet Union by Russia's Sukhoi Aviation Corporation. It is a multirole fighter ...
aircraft, and
Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines. It has also started to produce several new classes of destroyers and frigates including the
Type 052D class guided-missile destroyer. In addition, the PLAAF has designed its very own
Chengdu J-10
The Chengdu J-10 Vigorous Dragon (; NATO reporting name: Firebird), is a medium-weight, single-engine, multirole combat aircraft capable of all-weather operations, configured with a delta wing and canard design, with fly-by-wire flight contr ...
fighter aircraft and a new stealth fighter, the
Chengdu J-20. The PLA launched the new
Jin class nuclear submarines on 3 December 2004 capable of launching nuclear warheads that could strike targets across the Pacific Ocean and have three aircraft carriers, with the latest, the Fujian, launched in 2022.
From 2014 to 2015, the PLA deployed 524 medical staff on a rotational basis to combat the
Ebola virus outbreak in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau.
As of 2023, this was the PLA's largest medical assistance mission in another country.
In 2015, the PLA formed new units including the PLA Ground Force, the PLA Rocket Force and the PLA Strategic Support Force.
The PLA on 1 August 2017 marked its 90th anniversary. Before the big anniversary it mounted its biggest parade yet and the first outside of Beijing, held in the
Zhurihe Training Base in the
Northern Theater Command
The Northern Theater Command (is) one of the five theater commands of the People's Liberation Army, founded on 1 February 2016. Its predecessor is the Shenyang Military Region and Beijing Military Region. Its headquarters is in the Heping D ...
(within the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region).
In December 2023 Reuters reported a military leadership purge after high ranking generals were ousted from the
Chinese legislature. In preceding years, sixty generals have been investigated and sacked.
Overseas deployments and peacekeeping operations
The People's Republic of China has sent the PLA to various hotspots as part of China's role as a prominent member of the United Nations. Such units usually include engineers and logistical units and members of the paramilitary
People's Armed Police and have been deployed as part of peacekeeping operations in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
,
the
Republic of the Congo,
Sudan,
Ivory Coast,
Haiti, and more recently,
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...
and
South Sudan
South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...
.
Engagements
* 1927–1950:
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...
* 1937–1945:
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
* 1949:
Yangtze incident against British warships on the Yangtze River
* 1949:
Incorporation of Xinjiang into the People's Republic of China
The incorporation of Second East Turkestan Republic/Xinjiang into the People's Republic of China in 1949, known in Chinese historiography as the Peaceful Liberation of Xinjiang, refers to the takeover of the Republic of China's Xinjiang Provinc ...
* 1950:
Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China
Tibet came under the control of People's Republic of China (PRC) after the Government of Tibet signed the Seventeen Point Agreement which the 14th Dalai Lama ratified on 24 October 1951, but later repudiated on the grounds that he rendered his ...
* 1950–1953:
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
under the banner of the Chinese
People's Volunteer Army
* 1954–1955:
First Taiwan Strait Crisis
The First Taiwan Strait Crisis (also the Formosa Crisis, the 1954–1955 Taiwan Strait Crisis, the Offshore Islands Crisis, the Quemoy-Matsu Crisis, and the 1955 Taiwan Strait Crisis) was a brief armed conflict between the Communist People's ...
* 1955–1970:
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
* 1958:
Second Taiwan Strait Crisis
The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, also called the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis, was a conflict that took place between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC). In this conflict, the PRC shelled the islands of Kinm ...
at
Quemoy
Kinmen, alternatively known as Quemoy, is a group of islands governed as a county by the Republic of China (Taiwan), off the southeastern coast of mainland China. It lies roughly east of the city of Xiamen in Fujian, from which it is separate ...
and
Matsu
* 1962:
Sino-Indian War
The Sino-Indian War took place between China and India from October to November 1962, as a major flare-up of the Sino-Indian border dispute. There had been a series of violent border skirmishes between the two countries after the 1959 Tibet ...
* 1967:
Border skirmishes with India
* 1969:
Sino-Soviet border conflict
The Sino-Soviet border conflict was a seven-month undeclared military conflict between the Soviet Union and China in 1969, following the Sino-Soviet split. The most serious border clash, which brought the world's two largest communist states t ...
* 1974:
Battle of the Paracel Islands
The Battle of the Paracel Islands (Chinese: 西沙海战, Pinyin: Xisha Haizhan;Vietnamese: Hải chiến Hoàng Sa) was a military engagement between the naval forces of China and South Vietnam in the Paracel Islands on January 19, 1974. The ...
with
South Vietnam
* 1979:
Sino-Vietnamese War
The Sino-Vietnamese War (also known by other names) was a border war fought between China and Vietnam in early 1979. China launched an offensive in response to Vietnam's actions against the Khmer Rouge in 1978, which ended the rule of the C ...
* 1979–1990:
Sino-Vietnamese conflicts[Carlyle A. Thayer, "Security Issues in Southeast Asia: The Third Indochina War", Conference on Security and Arms Control in the North Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, August 1987.]
* 1988:
Johnson South Reef Skirmish
The Johnson South Reef Skirmish was an altercation that took place on 14 March 1988 between Chinese and Vietnamese forces over who would control the Johnson South Reef in the Union Banks region of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
...
with Vietnam
* 1989:
Enforcement of martial law in Beijing during the
1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
* 1990:
Barin uprising
* 1995–1996:
Third Taiwan Strait Crisis
The Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, also called the 1995–1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis or the 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis, was the effect of a series of missile tests conducted by the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the waters surrounding Taiwan ...
* 1997: PLA establishes
Hong Kong Garrison
The People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison is a garrison of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), responsible for defence duties in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) since the sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred to ...
* 1999: PLA establishes
Macao Garrison
The People's Liberation Army Macao Garrison is a garrison of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), responsible for defense duties in the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) since the sovereignty of Macau was transferred to China in 1999 ...
* 2007–present:
UNIFIL peacekeeping operations in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
* 2009–present:
Anti-piracy operations in the
Gulf of Aden
* 2014: Search and rescue efforts for
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370/MAS370) was an international passenger flight operated by Malaysia Airlines that disappeared on 8 March 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia to its planned destination ...
* 2014:
UN peacekeeping operations in
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...
* 2015:
UNMISS
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission for South Sudan, which became independent on 9 July 2011. UNMISS was established on 8 July 2011 by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1996 (201 ...
peacekeeping operations in
South Sudan
South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...
* 2020–2021:
China–India skirmishes
Organization
![ChinaDOD](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/ChinaDOD.jpg)
The PLA is a component of the Armed Forces of the People's Republic of China, along with two
paramilitary organizations
A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...
: the
People's Armed Police and the
Militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
. Under the doctrine of "
the party commands the gun" (), the PLA is under the absolute control of the CCP.
Central Military Commission
The PLA is governed by the Central Military Commission (CMC); under the arrangement of "
one institution with two names", there exists a state CMC and a Party CMC, although both commissions have identical personnel, organization and function, and effectively work as a single body.
The only difference in membership between the two occurs for a few months every five years, during the period between a
Party National Congress, when Party CMC membership changes, and the next ensuing
National People's Congress
The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China.
With 2,9 ...
, when the state CMC changes.
The CMC is composed of a
chairman,
vice chairpersons and regular members. The chairman of the CMC is the commander-in-chief of the PLA, with the post generally held by the
paramount leader of China; since 1989, the post has generally been held together with the
CCP general secretary.
Unlike in other countries, the
Ministry of National Defense
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
and its
Minister do not have command authority, largely acting as diplomatic liaisons of the CMC, though the Minister has always been a member of the CMC.
; Chairman:
*
Xi Jinping
Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, ...
(also
General Secretary,
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
and
Commander-in-chief of Joint Battle Command)
; Vice Chairmen:
* General
Zhang Youxia
Zhang Youxia (; born July 1950) is a general in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China and currently the second-ranked Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Central Military Commission (CMC). He previously served as Head ...
* General
He Weidong
He Weidong (; born May 1957) is a general (Jiang (rank), shangjiang) of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) who serves as Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission and member of the 20th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party. He served a ...
; Members
* Chief of the
Joint Staff Department – General
Liu Zhenli
* Director of the
Political Work Department – Admiral
Miao Hua
Miao Hua (; born November 1955) is an admiral of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). He has served as director of the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission since October 2017. Previously he served as politic ...
* Secretary of the
Commission for Discipline Inspection – General
Zhang Shengmin
Zhang Shengmin (; born February 1958) is a general of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Rocket Force. He is a member of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and Secretary of the CMC Commission for Discipline Inspection. He is also a Deputy ...
Previously, the PLA was governed by four general departments; the General Political, the General Logistics, the General Armament, and the General Staff Departments. These were abolished in 2016 under the
military reforms undertaken by Xi Jinping, replaced with 15 new functional departments directly reporting to the CMC:
#
General Office A General Office (also known as "administrative office") is an important administrative political organ in the communist party organizations and communist countries (such as China, Laos and Vietnam for instance). Generally speaking, the General Offi ...
#
Joint Staff Department
#
Political Work Department
#
Logistic Support Department
#
Equipment Development Department
#
Training and Administration Department
#
National Defense Mobilization Department
#
Discipline Inspection Commission
# Politics and Legal Affairs Commission
# Science and Technology Commission
#
Office for Strategic Planning
#
Office for Reform and Organizational Structure
#
Office for International Military Cooperation
#
Audit Office
#
Agency for Offices Administration
Included among the 15 departments are three commissions. The CMC Discipline Inspection Commission is charged with rooting out corruption.
Political leadership
The CCP maintains absolute control over the PLA. It requires the PLA to undergo political education, instilling
CCP ideology to its members.
Additionally, China maintains a
political commissar system.
Regiment-level and higher units maintain CCP committees and political commissars ().
Additionally, battalion-level and company-level units respectively maintain political directors and political instructors.
The political workers are officially equal to commanders in status.
The political workers are officially responsible for the implementation of party committee decisions, instilling and maintaining party discipline, providing political education, and working with other components of the political work system.
As a rule, the political worker serves as the party committee secretary while the commander serves as the deputy secretary.
Key decisions in the PLA are generally made in the CCP committees throughout the military.
Due to the CCP's absolute leadership, non-CCP
political parties, groups and organizations except the
Communist Youth League of China are not allowed to establish organizations or have members in the PLA. Additionally, only the CCP is allowed to appoint the leading cadres at all levels of the PLA.
Theater commands
![Map of Theatres of PLA en](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Map_of_Theatres_of_PLA_en.svg)
Until 2016, China's territory was divided into seven military regions, but they were reorganized into five
theater commands in early 2016.
This reflected a change in their concept of operations from primarily ground-oriented to mobile and coordinated movement of all services. The five theatre commands, in order of stated significance are:
*
Eastern Theater Command
The Eastern Theater Command () is one of the five theater commands of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), founded 1 February 2016. It replaced the Nanjing Military Region. The command is headquartered in Nanjing.
Its jurisdiction includes Jia ...
*
Southern Theater Command
The Southern Theater Command () is one of the five theater commands of the People's Liberation Army, founded on 1 February 2016. Its predecessor was the Guangzhou Military Region.
Its jurisdiction includes Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Yunnan, H ...
*
Western Theater Command
The Western Theater Command ()is one of the five theater commands of the People's Liberation Army, founded on 1 February 2016.
Its jurisdiction includes Sichuan, Tibet, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Shaanxi, Yunnan, Chongqing. Guizhou ...
*
Northern Theater Command
The Northern Theater Command (is) one of the five theater commands of the People's Liberation Army, founded on 1 February 2016. Its predecessor is the Shenyang Military Region and Beijing Military Region. Its headquarters is in the Heping D ...
*
Central Theater Command
The Central Theater Command () is one of the five theater commands of the People's Liberation Army of China, and was founded on 1 February 2016. Its predecessors were the Beijing Military Region and Jinan Military Region.
The International I ...
The military reforms have also introduced a major change in the areas of responsibility. Rather than separately commanding their troops, service branches are now primarily responsible for administrative tasks (like equipping and maintaining the troops). It is the theater commands now that have the command authority. This should, in theory, facilitate the implementation of joint operations across all service branches.
Organization table
Ranks
Officers
Other ranks
Service branches
The PLA encompasses five main service branches (): the Ground Force, the Navy, the Air Force, the Rocket Force, and the Strategic Support Force. Following the 200,000 and 300,000 personnel reduction announced in 2003 and 2005 respectively, the total strength of the PLA has been reduced from 2.5 million to around 2 million. The reductions came mainly from non-combat ground forces, which would allow more funds to be diverted to naval, air, and strategic missile forces. This shows China's shift from ground force prioritisation to emphasising air and naval power with high-tech equipment for offensive roles over disputed coastal territories.
[China plans military reform to enhance its readiness](_blank)
– The-Japan-news.com
Ground Force (PLAGF)
![ZTZ-99A tank 20170902](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/ZTZ-99A_tank_front_right_20170902.jpg)
The PLA Ground Force (PLAGF) is the largest of the PLA's five services with 975,000 active duty personnel, approximately half of the PLA's total manpower of around 2 million personnel.
International Institute for Strategic Studies
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is a British research institute or think tank in the area of international affairs. Since 1997, its headquarters have been Arundel House in London, England.
The 2017 Global Go To Think ...
: The Military Balance 2020, p. 260. The PLAGF is organized into twelve active duty group armies sequentially numbered from the
71st Group Army
The 71st Group Army () is a formation of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Ground Forces (PLAGF). The 71st Group Army, formerly the 12th Army or 12th Corps, is one of twelve total group armies of the PLAGF, the largest echelon of ground force ...
to the
83rd Group Army
The 83rd Group Army (), formerly the 54th Group Army, is a military formation of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Ground Forces (PLAGF). The 83rd Group Army is one of twelve total group armies of the PLAGF, the largest echelon of ground f ...
which are distributed to each of the PRC's five theatre commands, receiving two to three group armies per command. In wartime, numerous PLAGF
reserve
Reserve or reserves may refer to:
Places
* Reserve, Kansas, a US city
* Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish
* Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County
* Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...
and
paramilitary units may be mobilized to augment these active group armies. The PLAGF reserve component comprises approximately 510,000 personnel divided into thirty infantry and twelve anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) divisions. The PLAGF is led by Commander
Liu Zhenli and Political Commissar
Qin Shutong
Qin Shutong (; born November 1963) is a general ('' shangjiang'') of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) serving as political commissar of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force, succeeding Liu Lei in January 2022. He is a representative of th ...
.
Navy (PLAN)
![Maritime Interdiction Operations at RIMPAC 2016 160718-N-CA112-003](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Maritime_Interdiction_Operations_at_RIMPAC_2016_160718-N-CA112-003.jpg)
Until the early 1990s, the PLA Navy (PLAN) performed a subordinate role to the
PLA Ground Force
The People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF; ) is the land-based service branch of the People's Liberation Army and the largest and oldest branch of the entire Chinese armed forces. The PLAGF can trace its lineage from 1927 as the Chine ...
(PLAGF). Since then it has undergone rapid modernisation. The 300,000 strong PLAN is organised into three major fleets: the
North Sea Fleet headquartered at
Qingdao, the
East Sea Fleet
The Eastern Theater Command Navy (), or East Sea Fleet (ESF; ), is one of the three fleets of the People's Liberation Army Navy, operating in the East China Sea under the Eastern Theater Command. It was the first naval force formed by the Peop ...
headquartered at
Ningbo
Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...
, and the
South Sea Fleet
The Southern Theater Command Navy (), or the South Sea Fleet (SSF; ) is one of the three fleets of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, operating in the South China Sea under the Southern Theater Command. It is headquartered in Zhanjiang, ...
headquartered in
Zhanjiang
Zhanjiang (), historically spelled Tsamkong, is a prefecture-level city at the southwestern end of Guangdong province, People's Republic of China, facing Haikou city to the south.
As of the 2020 census, its population was 6,981,236 (6,994,832 ...
. Each fleet consists of a number of
surface ship
Surface combatants (or surface ships or surface vessels) are a subset of naval warships which are designed for warfare on the surface of the water, with their own weapons and armed forces. They are generally ships built to fight other ships, subma ...
,
submarine,
naval air force
The Naval Air Force ( vi, Binh chủng Không quân Hải quân) is an armed service of the Vietnam People's Navy that has the function of performing tasks at sea or along the coast and islands by means of the air force such as aircraft combat a ...
,
coastal defence
Coastal management is defence against flooding and erosion, and techniques that stop erosion to claim lands. Protection against rising sea levels in the 21st century is crucial, as sea level rise accelerates due to climate change. Changes in s ...
, and
marine units.
The navy includes a 25,000 strong
Marine Corps
Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refl ...
(organised into seven brigades), a 26,000 strong
Naval Aviation Force operating several hundred attack helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
As part of its overall programme of naval modernisation, the PLAN is in the stage of developing a
blue water navy
A blue-water navy is a maritime force capable of operating globally, essentially across the deep waters of open oceans. While definitions of what actually constitutes such a force vary, there is a requirement for the ability to exercise sea cont ...
. In November 2012, then Party General Secretary Hu Jintao reported to the CCP's
18th National Congress his desire to "enhance our capacity for exploiting marine resource and build China into a strong maritime power". According to the United States
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
, the PLAN has numerically the largest navy in the world. The PLAN is led by Commander
Dong Jun
Dong Jun (; born in 1963) is an admiral ('' shangjiang'') of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) serving as Commander of the People's Liberation Army Navy, succeeding Shen Jinlong in September 2021.
Biography
In 2013, Dong was appointed deputy com ...
and Political Commissar
Yuan Huazhi
Yuan Huazhi (; born October 1961) is an admiral ('' shangjiang'') of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). He has been Political Commissar of the People's Liberation Army Navy since January 2022. He attained the rank of rear admiral ('' shaoji ...
.
Air Force (PLAAF)
![J-20 at Airshow China 2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/J-20_at_Airshow_China_2016.jpg)
The 395,000 strong People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) is organized into five Theater Command Air Forces (TCAF) and 24 air divisions.
The largest operational units within the Aviation Corps is the air division, which has 2 to 3 aviation regiments, each with 20 to 36 aircraft. The surface-to-air missile (SAM) Corps is organized into SAM
divisions and
brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division.
B ...
s. There are also three airborne
divisions manned by the PLAAF.
J-XX
J-XXConiglio 2006, P.44 J-X,Chang 2002 and XXJ are names applied by Western intelligence agencies to describe programs by the People's Republic of China to develop one or more fifth-generation fighter aircraft. General He Weirong, Chief of Staf ...
and
XXJ are names applied by Western intelligence agencies to describe programs by the People's Republic of China to develop one or more
fifth-generation fighter aircraft.
[Chang 2002][Coniglio 2006, P.44] The PLAAF is led by Commander
Chang Dingqiu
Chang Dingqiu (; born January 1967) is a general ('' shangjiang'') of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) serving as Commander of the People's Liberation Army Air Force, succeeding Ding Laihang in September 2021. He is a member of the 20th Central ...
and Political Commissar
Guo Puxiao
Guo Puxiao (; born January 1964) is a general ('' Shangjiang'') of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China and the political commissar of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) since January 2022. He previously served as the political ...
.
Rocket Force (PLARF)
The People's Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) is the main strategic missile force of the PLA and consists of at least 120,000 personnel.
It controls China's
nuclear
Nuclear may refer to:
Physics
Relating to the nucleus of the atom:
* Nuclear engineering
*Nuclear physics
*Nuclear power
*Nuclear reactor
*Nuclear weapon
*Nuclear medicine
*Radiation therapy
*Nuclear warfare
Mathematics
*Nuclear space
*Nuclear ...
and conventional
strategic missile
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons c ...
s. China's total nuclear arsenal size is estimated to be between 100 and 400 thermonuclear warheads. The PLARF is organized into bases sequentially numbered from 61 through 67, wherein the first six are operational and allocated to the nation's theater commands while Base 67 serves as the PRC's central
nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...
s storage facility. The PLARF is led by Command
Li Yuchao and Political Commissar
Xu Zhongbo.
Strategic Support Force (PLASSF)
![Tianwen-1 launch 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Tianwen-1_launch_02.jpg)
Founded on 31 December 2015 as part of the first wave of reforms of the PLA, the People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force (PLASSF) was established as the newest and latest branch of the PLA. Personnel numbers are estimated at 175,000.
Initial announcements regarding the Strategic Support Force did not provide much detail, but Yang Yujun of the Chinese Ministry of Defense described it as an integration of all current combat support forces including but limited to space, cyber, electronic and intelligence branches. Additionally, commentators have speculated that the new service branch will include high-tech operations forces such as space,
cyberspace and electronic warfare operations units, independent of other branches of the military.
Yin Zhuo
Yin may refer to:
*the dark force in the yin and yang from traditional Chinese philosophy and medicine
* Yīn (surname) (), a Chinese surname
*Yǐn (surname) (), a Chinese surname
*Shang dynasty, also known as the Yin dynasty
**Yinxu or Yin, the ...
, rear admiral of the
People's Liberation Army Navy and member of the eleventh Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) said that "the major mission of the People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force, PLA Strategic Support Force is the provision of support to the combat operations so that the PLA can gain regional advantages in the aerospace, space, network and electromagnetic space warfare and ensure integrated operations in the conduction of US joint warfare style operations."
Special forces
Conscription and terms of service
Technically, military service with the PLA is obligatory for all Chinese citizens. In practice, mandatory military service has not been implemented since 1949 as the People's Liberation Army has been able to recruit sufficient numbers voluntarily.
Article 55 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China prescribes conscription by stating: "It is a sacred duty of every citizen of the People's Republic of China to defend his or her motherland and resist invasion. It is an honoured obligation of the citizens of the People's Republic of China to perform military service and to join the militia forces." The 1984 Military Service Law spells out the legal basis of conscription, describing military service as a duty for "all citizens without distinction of race … and religious creed". This law has not been amended since it came into effect. Technically, those 18–22 years of age enter selective compulsory military service, with a 24-month service obligation. In reality, numbers of registering personals are enough to support all military posts in China, creating "volunteer conscription".
Residents of the special administrative regions of China, special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macau, are exempted from joining the military.
Weapons and equipment
According to the United States Department of Defense, China is developing kinetic-energy weapons, high-powered lasers, high-powered microwave, microwave weapons, Particle beam#Military, particle-beam weapons, and electromagnetic pulse weapons with its increase of military fundings.
The PLA has said of reports that its modernisation is dependent on sales of advanced technology from American allies, senior leadership have stated "Some have politicized China's normal commercial cooperation with foreign countries, damaging our reputation." These contributions include advanced European diesel engines for Chinese warships, military helicopter designs from Eurocopter, French anti-submarine sonars and helicopters, Australian technology for the Houbei class missile boat, and Israeli supplied American missile, laser and aircraft technology.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's data, China became the world's third largest exporter of major arms in 2010–14, an increase of 143 percent from the period 2005–2009. SIPRI also calculated that China surpassed Russia to become the world's second largest arms exporter by 2020.
China's share of global arms exports hence increased from 3 to 5 percent. China supplied major arms to 35 states in 2010–14. A significant percentage (just over 68 percent) of Chinese exports went to three countries: Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. China also exported major arms to 18 African states. Examples of China's increasing global presence as an arms supplier in 2010–14 included deals with Venezuela for armoured vehicles and transport and trainer aircraft, with Algeria for three frigates, with Indonesia for the supply of hundreds of anti-ship missiles and with Nigeria for the supply of several unmanned combat aerial vehicles.
Following rapid advances in its arms industry, China has become less dependent on arms imports, which decreased by 42 percent between 2005–09 and 2010–14. Russia accounted for 61 percent of Chinese arms imports, followed by France with 16 percent and Ukraine with 13 per cent. Helicopters formed a major part of Russian and French deliveries, with the French designs produced under licence in China.
Over the years, China has struggled to design and produce effective engines for combat and transport vehicles. It continued to import large numbers of engines from Russia and Ukraine in 2010–14 for indigenously designed combat, advanced trainer and transport aircraft, and naval ships. It also produced British-, French- and German-designed engines for combat aircraft, naval ships and armoured vehicles, mostly as part of agreements that have been in place for decades.
In August 2021, China tested a nuclear-capable Hypersonic flight, hypersonic missile that circled the globe before speeding towards its target. The ''Financial Times'' reported that "the test showed that China had made astounding progress on hypersonic weapons and was far more advanced than U.S. officials realized." During the Exercise Zapad-81 in 2021 with Russian forces, most of the gear were novel Chinese arms such as the Shaanxi KJ-500, KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft, Chengdu J-20, J-20 and Shenyang J-16, J-16 fighters, Xi'an Y-20, Y-20 transport planes, and surveillance and combat drones. Another joint forces exercise took place in August 2023 near Alaska.
Cyberwarfare
There is a belief in the Western military doctrines that the PLA have already begun engaging countries using cyber-warfare. There has been a significant increase in the number of presumed Chinese military initiated cyber events from 1999 to the present day.
Cyberwarfare has gained recognition as a valuable technique because it is an asymmetric technique that is a part of Chinese information operations and information warfare, information operations and information warfare. As is written by two PLAGF Colonels, Qiao Liang (writer), Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui in the book ''Unrestricted Warfare'', "Methods that are not characterized by the use of the force of arms, nor by the use of military power, nor even by the presence of casualties and bloodshed, are just as likely to facilitate the successful realization of the war's goals, if not more so.
While China has long been suspected of cyber spying, on 24 May 2011 the PLA announced the existence of having 'cyber capabilities'.
In February 2013, the media named "Comment Crew" as a hacker military faction for China's People's Liberation Army. In May 2014, a Federal Grand Jury in the United States indicted five PLA Unit 61398, Unit 61398 officers on criminal charges related to cyber attacks on private companies based in the United States after alleged investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation who exposed their identities in collaboration with US intelligence agencies such as the CIA.
In February 2020, the United States government indicted members of China's People's Liberation Army for the 2017 Equifax data breach, which involved hacking into Equifax and plundering sensitive data as part of a massive heist that also included stealing trade secrets, though the CCP denied these claims.
Nuclear capabilities
![Medium and Intercontinental Range Ballistic Missiles](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Medium_and_Intercontinental_Range_Ballistic_Missiles.png)
In 1955, China decided to proceed with a nuclear weapons program. The decision was made after the United States threatened the use of nuclear weapons against China should it take action against
Quemoy
Kinmen, alternatively known as Quemoy, is a group of islands governed as a county by the Republic of China (Taiwan), off the southeastern coast of mainland China. It lies roughly east of the city of Xiamen in Fujian, from which it is separate ...
and
Matsu, coupled with the lack of interest of the Soviet Union for using its nuclear weapons in defense of China.
After their first Project 596, nuclear test (China claims minimal Soviet assistance before 1960) on 16 October 1964, China was the first state to pledge no-first-use of nuclear weapons. On 1 July 1966, the Second Artillery Corps, as named by Premier Zhou Enlai, was formed. In 1967, China Chinese nuclear test No. 6, tested a fully functional hydrogen bomb.
China became a major international arms exporter during the 1980s. Beijing joined the Middle East arms control talks, which began in July 1991 to establish global guidelines for conventional arms transfers, and later announced that it would no longer participate because of the US decision to sell 150 F-16A/B aircraft to Taiwan on 2 September 1992.
It joined the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 1984 and pledged to abstain from further atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in 1986. China acceded to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1992 and supported its indefinite and unconditional extension in 1995. List of nuclear weapons tests of China, Nuclear weapons tests by China ceased in 1996, when it signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and agreed to seek an international ban on the production of fissile nuclear weapons material.
Beijing has deployed a modest ballistic missile force, including land and sea-based intermediate-range and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). It was estimated in 2007 that China has about 100–160 liquid-fuelled ICBMs capable of striking the United States with approximately 100–150 IRBMs able to strike Russia or Eastern Europe, as well as several hundred tactical SRBMs with ranges between 300 and 600 km.
Currently, the Chinese nuclear stockpile is estimated to be between 50 and 75 land and sea based ICBMs.
China's nuclear program has historically followed a doctrine of minimal deterrence, which involves having the minimum force needed to deter an aggressor from launching a first strike. The current efforts of China appear to be aimed at maintaining a survivable nuclear force by, for example, using solid-fuelled ICBMs in silos rather than liquid-fuelled missiles. China's 2006 published deterrence policy states that they will "uphold the principles of counterattack in self-defense and limited development of nuclear weapons", but "has never entered, and will never enter into a nuclear arms race with any country". It goes on to describe that China will never undertake a first strike, or use nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear state or zone.
In 2007, however, the United States' Department of Defense suggested that the Chinese position may be ambiguous, and nuclear weapons may be used both to deter conventional strikes/invasions on the Chinese mainland or as an international political tool – limiting the extent to which other nations can coerce China politically, an inherent, often inadvertent phenomenon in international relations as regards any state with nuclear capabilities.
Space
Having witnessed the crucial role of space to United States military success in the
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
, China continues to view space as a critical domain in both conflict and international strategic competition.
The PLA operates a various satellite constellations performing Reconnaissance satellite, reconnaissance, Satellite navigation, navigation, Communications satellite, communication, and Anti-satellite weapon, counterspace functions.
Significant components of the PLA's space-based reconnaissance include Jianbing (vanguard) satellites with Front organization, cover names Yaogan () and Gaofen ().
These satellites collect Electro-optical sensor, electro-optical (EO) imagery to collect a literal representation of a Targeting (warfare), target, Synthetic-aperture radar, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery to penetrate the cloudy climates of South China, southern China,
and electronic intelligence (ELINT) to provide targeting intelligence on adversarial ships.
The PLA also leverages a restricted, high-performance service of the country's BeiDou Positioning system, positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) satellites for its forces and Intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms. For secure communications, the PLA uses the Zhongxing and Fenghuo series of satellites which enable secure data and voice transmission over C band (IEEE), C-band, Ku band, Ku-band, and Ultra high frequency, UHF.
PLA deployment of anti-satellite and counterspace satellites including those of the Shijian and Shiyan series have also brought significant concern from western nations.
The PLA also plays a significant role in the Chinese space program.
To date, all the participants have been selected from members of the PLA Air Force.
China became the third country in the world to have sent a man into space by its own means with the flight of Yang Liwei aboard the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft on 15 October 2003, the flight of Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng aboard Shenzhou 6 on 12 October 2005, and Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming (astronaut), Liu Boming, and Jing Haipeng aboard Shenzhou 7 on 25 September 2008.
The PLA started the development of an anti-ballistic and anti-satellite system in the 1960s, code named Project 640, including ground-based lasers and anti-satellite missiles. On 11 January 2007, China conducted a successful 2007 Chinese anti-satellite missile test, test of an anti-satellite missile, with an SC-19 class KKV.
[China plays down fears after satellite shot down](_blank)
, Agence France-Presse, AFP via MediaCorp Channel NewsAsia, Channelnewsasia, 20 January 2007
The PLA has tested two types of hypersonic space vehicles, the Shenglong Spaceplane and a new one built by Chengdu Aircraft Corporation. Only a few pictures have appeared since it was revealed in late 2007. Earlier, images of the High-enthalpy Shock Waves Laboratory wind tunnel of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of high-temperature gas dynamics (LHD) were published in the Chinese media. Tests with speeds up to Mach 20 were reached around 2001.
Budget
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimated that China's military expenditure was US$292 billion in 2022, accounting for List of countries by military expenditures, 13 percent of the world's defense expenditures.''
'' China's military budget for 2014 according to Janes Information Services, a defense industry consulting and analysis company, will be US$148bn, which is the List of countries by military expenditures, second largest in the world. The United States military budget for 2014 in comparison, is US$574.9bn, which is down from a high of US$664.3bn in 2012.
According to SIPRI, China became the world's third-largest exporter of major arms in 2010–2014, an increase of 143 per cent from the period 2005–2009. China supplied major arms to 35 states in 2010–2014. A significant percentage (just over 68 per cent) of Chinese exports went to three countries: Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. China also exported major arms to 18 African states. Examples of China's increasing global presence as an arms supplier in 2010–2014 included deals with Venezuela for armored vehicles and transport and trainer aircraft, with Algeria for three frigates, with Indonesia for the supply of hundreds of anti-ship missiles and with Nigeria for the supply of several unmanned combat aerial vehicles. Following rapid advances in its domestic arms industry, China has become less dependent on arms imports, which decreased by 42 per cent between 2005–2009 and 2010–2014.
China's rise in military spending come at a time when there are tensions along the South China Sea with territorial disputes involving the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan, as well as escalating tensions between China and Japan involving the disputed Senkaku Islands. Former-United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has urged China to be more transparent about its military capabilities and intentions. The years 2018 and 2019 both saw significant budget increases as well. China announced 2018's budget as 1.11 trillion yuan (US$165.5bn), an 8.1% increase on 2017, and 2019's budget as 1.19 trillion yuan (US$177.61bn), an increase of 7.5 per cent on 2018.
Budget figures are published on the website of the State Council via a document named 'Central and Local Budgets' followed by the preceding year of the publication.
Historical commercial activities
![Wuhan - No 6907 Factory of PLA of China - 4138](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Wuhan_-_No_6907_Factory_of_PLA_of_China_-_4138.jpg)
Until the mid-1990s the PLA had extensive commercial enterprise holdings in non-military areas, particularly real estate. Almost all of these holdings were supposedly spun off in the mid-1990s. In most cases, the management of the companies remained unchanged, with the PLA officers running the companies simply retiring from the PLA to run the newly formed private holding companies.
The history of PLA involvement in commercial enterprises began in the 1950s and 1960s. Because of the socialist state-owned system and from a desire for military self-sufficiency, the PLA created a network of enterprises such as farms, guest houses, and factories intended to financially support its own needs. One unintended side effect of the Deng-era economic reforms was that many of these enterprises became very profitable.
By the early 1990s party officials and high military officials were becoming increasingly alarmed at the military's commercial involvement for several reasons. The military's involvement in commerce was seen to adversely affect military readiness and spread corruption. Further, there was great concern that having an independent source of funding would lead to decreased loyalty to the CCP. The result of this was an effort to spin off the PLA's commercial enterprises into private companies managed by former PLA officers, and to reform military procurement from a system in which the PLA directly controls its sources of supply to a contracting system more akin to those of Western countries. Jiang Zemin restricted the PLA from engaging in commercial practices, subject to a few exceptions.
The separation of the PLA from its commercial interests was largely complete by 2000. It was met with very little resistance, as the spinoff was arranged in such a way that few lost out.
Symbols
Anthem
The March of the Chinese People's Liberation Army was adopted as the military anthem by the Central Military Commission on 25 July 1988. The lyrics of the anthem were written by composer Gong Mu (real name: Zhang Yongnian; Chinese language, Chinese: 张永年) and the music was composed by Korea-born Chinese composer Zheng Lücheng.
Flag and insignia
The PLA's insignia consists of a roundel with a red star bearing the two Chinese character, Chinese characters ""(literally "eight-one"), referring to the
Nanchang uprising which began on 1 August 1927 (first day of the eighth month) and symbolic as the CCP's founding of the PLA. The inclusion of the two characters ("") is symbolic of the party's revolutionary history carrying strong emotional connotations of the political power which it shed blood to obtain. The flag of the Chinese People's Liberation Army is the war flag of the People's Liberation Army; the layout of the flag has a golden star at the top left corner and "" to the right of the star, placed on a red field. Each service branch also has its flags: The top of the flags is the same as the PLA flag; the bottom are occupied by the colors of the branches.
The flag of the Ground Forces has a forest green bar at the bottom. The naval ensign has stripes of blue and white at the bottom. The Air Force uses a sky blue bar. The Rocket Force uses a yellow bar at the bottom. The forest green represents the earth, the blue and white stripes represent the seas, the sky blue represents the air and the yellow represents the flare of missile launching.
File:People's Liberation Army Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg, alt=A golden star, along with three Chinese characters, placed on a red background., PLA
File:Ground Force Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg, alt=A golden star, along with three Chinese characters, placed on a red background. At the bottom of a flag is a green bar., Ground Force
''Ground Force'' was a British garden makeover television series originally broadcast by the BBC between 1997 and 2005. The series was originally hosted by Alan Titchmarsh, Charlie Dimmock and Tommy Walsh.
Production
The series was created b ...
File:Naval Ensign of the People's Republic of China.svg, alt=A golden star, along with three Chinese characters, placed on a red background. At the bottom of a flag are stripes of blue, white, blue, white and blue., Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...
File:Air Force Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg, alt=A golden star, along with three Chinese characters, placed on a red background. At the bottom of a flag is a sky blue bar., Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...
File:Rocket Force Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg, alt=A golden star, along with three Chinese characters, placed on a red background. At the bottom of a flag is a yellow bar., Rocket Force
See also
* Chinese information operations and information warfare
* Republic of China Armed Forces
* Type 07
References
Works cited
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Further reading
History
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Present-day
* (China Military Power Report, Annual Report to United States Congress, Congress)
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{{authority control
People's Liberation Army,
1927 establishments in China
Military wings of socialist parties
National liberation armies
History of the Chinese Communist Party
Politics of China