Bitterness grows in Chinese military over large-scale troop cuts

[BoQ77]

Would a 500,000 man standing army enough to secure the land mass that is China ? No, it is not.

When China invaded Vietnam in 1979, they push 600,000 into Vietnam, and 2 million near border with USSR.
American also put over 500,000 into South Vietnam.

Seem all of those is not enough.

 

[Sanchez]

Besides 2.3 million military, Chinese gov employs also 660000 strong armed police. I guess Xi wants to reduce land combat forces but increase the strength of air force and navy. There could be more armed police on the border, on sea as well as in the sensitive regions.

 

[Shotgunner51]

China has a small defense budget, level of which is maintained at only ~1.3% of GDP. Within this tight budget, more priorities should be channeled into building PLA capabilities that can meet future challenges in naval warfare, air warfare, weaponisation of outer space, E&M warfare, cyber warfare and strategic deterrance.

PLA is a peace enforcement organization, no design on any land war of major scale (offensive or defensive), hence there is no need to maintain a large standing PLA Army. The 18 army corps at the moment would be sufficient, retrenchment of personnel should be mostly on regular infantry.

On homeland security, most tasks would be fully taken up by CPAP (China People's Armed Police; 中国武警), Coast Guards (中国海警), Customs, provincial police departments, and other law enforcement agencies.

 

[TaiShang]

Hearsay news spiced with Western bigotry and Indian exaggeration.

China's policies are neither haphazard, nor causal. They are long-winded, well-consulted and well thought-over.

The steps taken on part of the military is just part of the strategy called the New Normal and New Form of Major Power Relations.

China is no longer a land power. Gone are the days of bloated land forces and weak navies. Defending homeland is done through nuclear deterrent.

China is land, maritime, air and space power.

 

[gambit]

Hearsay news spiced with Western bigotry and Indian exaggeration.

China's policies are neither haphazard, nor causal. They are long-winded, well-consulted and well thought-over.

The steps taken on part of the military is just part of the strategy called the New Normal and New Form of Major Power Relations.

China is no longer a land power. Gone are the days of bloated land forces and weak navies. Defending homeland is done through nuclear deterrent.

China is land, maritime, air and space power.

Wrong. You have a flawed understanding of what kind of power is China.

China is more a continental power than she is a naval power simply by virtue of the quantity of land neighbors. Her sea access lanes are shared, meaning contended, by even more neighbors and powerful ones such as (S)Korea and Japan, not including the US. Air power is usually home soil restricted and currently, China have no means to project her air forces, and not for at least 20 yrs out. Space is equally shared and the current treaties for space have no country have exclusive rights to space.

 

[Beast]

China being a tradition land power of cos will face resistant when suddenly emphasize turns on navy and Air Force. But that is the trend to go. Power projection and rapid worldwide strike needs more emphasis on navy and airlift.

 

[Tiger Genie]

sometimes such tough decisions cannot be avoided and a mature leader such as Xi would not have taken such a decision without considering all. I am sure they will provide a good rehabilitation package to the affected soldiers.

 

[Zsari]

When China invaded Vietnam in 1979, they push 600,000 into Vietnam, and 2 million near border with USSR.
American also put over 500,000 into South Vietnam.

Only 100,000 actually entered into Vietnam with another 100,000 held in reserve across the border. 600,000 is the amount of troop that was mobilized, including those that are facing USSR.

 

[Jlaw]

Hearsay news spiced with Western bigotry and Indian exaggeration.

China's policies are neither haphazard, nor causal. They are long-winded, well-consulted and well thought-over.

The steps taken on part of the military is just part of the strategy called the New Normal and New Form of Major Power Relations.

China is no longer a land power. Gone are the days of bloated land forces and weak navies. Defending homeland is done through nuclear deterrent.

China is land, maritime, air and space power.

With all said, in any war you need the ground troops regardless how superior ones air or navy is. I personally think the 300,000 cut is wrong.

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

Hearsay news spiced with Western bigotry and Indian exaggeration.

Pathological Indian obsession causing clouded judgement

The original news article is from reuters, and India doesn't own reuters

China military hints at strong opposition to large-scale troop cuts| Reuters

 

[Shotgunner51]

With all said, in any war you need the ground troops regardless how superior ones air or navy is. I personally think the 300,000 cut is wrong.

You are right, PLA ground troops are definitely needed, and their combat capabilities need to be strengthened not weakened. The establishment of 18 army corps is maintained (30,000~60,000 standing personnel each, excl. reserves), with less personnel, more firepower, more automation, better tactical/strategic mobility. Regular infantry battalion/brigade should be replaced by say army aviation, artillery, mechanized infantry, tank & special forces etc.

In cases of low-intensity warfare, the CPAP can provide light infantry support.

Furthermore, the Army is well supported by a huge industrial base which can provide a comprehensive portfolio of land warfare equipment in good numbers and fair costs. Hence despite the budget is very limited as a whole and especially for the army, the money still has good purchasing power.

 

[XiaoYaoZi]

Hearsay news spiced with Western bigotry and Indian exaggeration.

China's policies are neither haphazard, nor causal. They are long-winded, well-consulted and well thought-over.

The steps taken on part of the military is just part of the strategy called the New Normal and New Form of Major Power Relations.

China is no longer a land power. Gone are the days of bloated land forces and weak navies. Defending homeland is done through nuclear deterrent.

China is land, maritime, air and space power.

The focus of disarmament are the non combat personnel and some redundant institutions, the formal combat personnel and units may be more powerful.

 

[zeronet]

With all said, in any war you need the ground troops regardless how superior ones air or navy is. I personally think the 300,000 cut is wrong.

only the case when u plan to occupy enemy's land, which obviously is not the case for china. today even the craziest warmongers don't have the guts to invade china in land. among china's neighbors, only russia has strong land force, but war between this two countries is highly impossible. for india, tibet plateau blocks indian army. it is also highly impossible for china to initiate another land invasion into korea peninsula or vietnam. last but most important reason, today or in the very near future, china's land military force is becoming much more mobile with hundreds of y-20 transport aircrafts entering service. several heavy infantry divisions can be deployed in 24 hours to anywhere in the country or even beyond country's border line. there is just no need to keep the same number of infantry troops as in the old low-mobility days.

 

[gambit]

Well said Sir, but prb is for now we don't know the details of how much and from where the cutting is to be done. Their army is 1.6M strong, with 0.5M reserve. May be they cut some of the active force and add more reserves in it and divert the funds to either increase navy or air force or may inject money into modernization. With the population China has i don't think they have a prob in having numbers, its maintaining it and then with it upgrading it. Few years back one of our ex-president cum army chief did the same, he announced to cut the force by 50K and inject money in modernizing the current force, but when we indulged in this WoT, we were having prb in keeping force at our eastern border and simultaneously do COIN ops, at which time the number of army was increased to counter this deficiency.

And from what limited info i have on China, i don't think they have any aggressive designs in near future thus may be cutting their troop strength and i believe for now they have no enemy strong enough to invade into their land.

Here are my suspicions...

The PLA is corrupt to the point where its leaders are like the old Roman generals who recruited and paid legionnaires out of their own wealth. Not exactly, but similar in many ways when they sits on corporate boards, runs companies, sells ranks and assignments, and trade underlings like cattle. The corruption is compounded by the fact that the PLA is largely a conscription military with few dedicated 'lifers' who serves genuinely out of love for the military ethos and for country. The lower the ranks, the fewer these dedicated souls.

In order to reform the PLA of it entrenched corruption, drastic measures must take place and this reduction, essentially a tightening of the purse strings, is one of those drastic measures, along with charges and convictions of corruption of its leadership. Technological modernization is always forward and is a must. But manpower can head in the reverse by way of reduction-in-force (RIF) and such RIFs are common in the civilian sector.

There really is no better time to make these drastic reforms. The US is still in an economic recovery where China is a vital instrument, if not outright partner. The ME is a mess that will politically occupy the US at least for five yrs, if not a decade. Taiwan is a non-issue, always have been and will be for the short term. Japan and South Korea may act militarily belligerent in response to China's claim to the SCS, but China can back off anytime which would most likely compel those two countries to do the same.

The PLA can have all the bells and whistles in hardware it want, but if there are little or even no competent people to maintain those hardware, the PLA is really nothing more than a paper dragon. History may have Xi Jinping as the man who saved the PLA from itself and establish the PLA as a truly professional military.