If 20/25 years back Chinese troops used to fight with PT shoes, definitely 40 years back their situation was worse than that possibly bare footed. And 40 years back they showed their performance fighting india and annexing Aksai Chin which is an area of more than 32k sq. km. Now they have one aircraft carrier with 2/3 more upcoming, what can they do now? They have the combination of economic and military strength now. One issue they are going to heavily suffer from is the conflict with neighbors over South China sea. Hope they'll not act foolish like india does in such issue.
@ My dear PlanetSoldier, you have to see the cronological development of the Army of a Nation. All the South Asian countries were the British colony and as such they had a good experiences of fighting both the World Wars. Now let's discuss one by one:
1. Pakistan Army: Pakistan Army is definitely is much more efficient and organised than Indian Army. Though the Pakistan Army inherited from the British Army but soon after it got independence it came closer with the Western Army. Pakistan made a Defence Pact with Armerica. Pakistan was the member of CENTO and SEATO. So for almost 15 to 20 years Pakistan got lot of armament from the Western countries and its organisation were also modernised in line with NATO. However, after 1965 war it was forced to tilt towards China. So, Pakistan followed all the latest Battle Procedures and their other logistic elements were also modernised. As such compared to Indian army Pakistan Army was considered as better and I hope still they are better.
2. Indian Army: Though India also inherited from the British Army but after its independance due to the Neru' Peace Policy remained isolated in military developments. But soon after the War of 1962 it started recovering and finally it displaced in 1971 war. But yet still it is lagging behind Pakistan. Most of the Indian armament belongs to Russian origin.
3. Bangladesh Army: Same like Pakistan but still we are lagging behind in arms manufacturing.
4. Sri-Lankan Army: It's Army is now-days is also very strong but once the Tamils revolted in early 80's they had only 36,000 regular troops. See how they crushed the Tamil Insurgency.
5. Chinese Army/People's Army: The whole system of Chinese army recruitment is pecuilar in nature. Once upon a time Chines army was well organised under General Chiankaishak. They had Army, Airforce and Navy. But once the Chinese Revolution started under the leadership of Mao Se Tung, he had to fight with the regular army of Chiankaishak. Soon Chiankaishak along with Army, Navy and Airforce crossed the Pacific and organised himself at Formoza/Taiwan. At that time the Chinese Revolutionary Army had no Navy and Airforce. Now, who all were in Mao Se Tung's People's army, all the labour class, pleasants and other common people of the society. So in the true sense other than the rifle man he had nothing. Soon Chinese Army organised the other organs of the Army, Navy and Airforce. Under these critical stage hurriedly they joined in the Korean war against the American in support of North Korea. Chinese Army and Korean army were bitten back. Many Chinese captured army even denied to returned back to China. After Korean War little bit development of Chinese Army went on with the help of North Korea and USSR. But soon help from USSR were cut off. In 1962 China attacked India and captured a huge territory and than suddenly withdrew to its own location. Than she decided to attack Vietnam and captured a huge area. Here the capabilty of Chinese army was leaked out. It was a disaster for the Chinese army for the logistical reason. Soon they unitarilly withdrew. Chinese Army is not an organised army. Their technic, tactics, strategy, battle Procedures, logistic system are still in a primitive stage. Their troops individual equipments such as helmet, belt, water bottle, various packing materials etc were not proper. Their troops and officers are master in particular jobs. But presently their Army is comming up but it is too late. These sort of training the American army had long time before may be 70 years back. Just 7/10 years the Chinese army has came across "How to fight in the Built up areas".