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China to Increase the Proportion of Navy and Air Force in the Military

In an interview with Beijing Morning News, Li Daguang, a military expert at National Defense University, announced that China will reduce the proportion of its ground forces and increase its navy and air force. China’s military will break the tradition of having a ground force-led military command mechanism and will establish separate command headquarters for the respective military entities. In combat operations, they will be under a joint command based on the direction of combat. 

The white paper, "The Diversified employment of China’s Armed Forces," published on April 16, 2013, disclosed the number of the Army mobile operational units, navy, and air force for the first time. The PLA Army mobile operational units include 18 combined corps, plus additional independent combined operational divisions (brigades), and have a total strength of 850,000. The size of the Navy is 235,000 and the Air Force 398,000. 

Source: Beijing Morning News and Xinhua, November 19, 2013 

http://www.morningpost.com.cn/szb/html/2013-11/19/content_257299.htm 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2013-11/19/c_118199380.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

CRN: Chinese Military Unmanned Aircraft Deployed Nationwide

China Review News (CRN) recently published a report commenting on remarks that a Chinese general made. The general suggested that China would continue to send unmanned aircraft to certain areas with the full confidence of self-protection. The comment was made in response to the Japanese threat of shooting down Chinese unmanned aircraft. The report went further into an investigation on China’s actual capabilities in the area of unmanned aircraft and found that the Chinese military has completed deploying fleets of unmanned aircraft to all seven military regions. These unmanned aircraft fleets are composed of different types of unmanned aircraft that play different roles such as intelligence gathering, command control, and precise attack. The Chinese unmanned aircraft can now carry out all-weather and long-range military missions. The report also mentioned that the Chinese military is aiming to reach the same advanced level that the U.S. unmanned aircraft enjoy. 
Source: China Review News, November 14, 2013
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1028/6/5/9/102865972.html?coluid=4&kindid=18&docid=102865972&mdate=1114172715
Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Chinese Generals: Peaceful Rise Does Not Mean Refusal to Fight

On November 12 a forum was held at the Prime Hotel Beijing Wangfujing after a press release announced the introduction a new book, "China Is Not Afraid — New Threats to Our National Security and Our Counter Strategy." More than 50 people including five PLA generals, major media reporters, publishers, and others attended the forum and discussed the current hot issues of national defense and security. 

The author of the book is the former deputy director of the Strategy Department at the PLA Military Academy. He believes that the current U.S. policy of containing China has not changed and will not change. Mao Zedong made the statement that imperialists are "paper tigers" in order to solve the problem of fear. In the press release, the author said, "Our Party [the CCP] and our army were founded on the premise of having no fear. The Chinese army should ‘be able to fight, fight to win.’ It must have the will of fearlessness in the face of strong enemies." 

Major General Peng Guangqian commented that China’s "peaceful rise" is not to say China "refuses to fight." We have to be well prepared as, at any given time, a situation can get out of control. Major General Xiao Yusheng asserted that some Chinese people should overcome the "America-phobia” and "Japan-phobia" syndromes. 

Source: Xinhua, November 13, 2013 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2013-11/13/c_125693846.htm
Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

CRN: Chinese Army’s Regimental Combat Troops Armed with Beidou Positioning System

China Review News (CRN) recently reported that nearly all Chinese regimental combat troops have been equipped with the Beidou global positioning system. The Beidou system is the Chinese home-grown positioning system that the Chinese military operates. The system claims to be the world’s third largest global positioning system (the U.S. GPS being number one). The Chinese military started developing the system in 1985, after Chinese missiles failed to receive the U.S. GPS signals. The Chinese system uses only two satellites, which work jointly with a “height distance” database to offer precise positioning. It is considered to have the world’s most secure architecture with the widest coverage for a two-satellite system. The Chinese military aims to accomplish global coverage by the year 2020.
Source: China Review News, November 9, 2013
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1028/5/5/2/102855294.html?coluid=4&kindid=16&docid=102855294&mdate=1109211306
Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Xi Jinping Calls on Military to Resolutely Obey the Party’s Commands

Xi Jinping, China’s President, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party, met with delegates of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who were attending a seminar in Beijing on Party development. During the meeting, Xi called on the military to uphold the leadership of the Communist Party and advocated strengthening Party development in the military. 

“The most fundamental reason that our military has been able to overcome all kinds of hardships and has moved from victory to victory is that the military steadfastly obeys and follows the Party. This is the soul and lifeblood of our military which we should never change or lose. The primary task of the Party’s development in the military is to ensure the CPC’s absolute leadership which is also the fundamental requirement of Party development in the military. … [Our military] must unswervingly adhere to the fundamental principle and system of the Party’s absolute leadership over the military to ensure that at any time under any circumstances the military resolutely obeys the commands of the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Committee.” 
Source: Sina.com, November 7, 2013 
http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2013-11-07/081428644456.shtml
Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Global Times: China’s Anti-ship Missile Has the Capability of Sinking U.S. Aircraft Carriers

On November 2, 2013, Huanqiu, the Chinese edition of Global Times, published an article titled “China’s Anti-ship Ballistic Missile Has the Capability of Sinking U.S. Aircraft Carriers.” The article openly viewed the U.S. as a potential enemy in a future war and proudly introduced China’s DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile, a "carrier killer" that can hit aircraft carriers 2,000 kilometers away.

The article stated, “In the 1996 Taiwan Strait crisis, the PLA truly felt a huge threat from the U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups and thus began to study how it would deal with the U.S. military’s involvement in a future war. An important part of the research has focused on how to fight against the carrier battle groups.” In conclusion, the article gave a chronological summary of the development of China’s anti-ship ballistic missiles.

Source: Huanqiu, November 2, 2013
http://mil.huanqiu.com/mlitaryvision/2013-11/2714897.html

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Why Has China Pulled the Mysterious Cover Off Its Nuclear Submarine Force?

Recently, China’s major media have all used their most prominent positions to report on the development of the PLA’s nuclear submarine force over the last 42 years, breaking the long-standing mystery surrounding China’s nuclear submarine force. 

Qiushi, the leading journal interpreting the policies of the Chinese Communist Party, published an article to offer some explanations as to why China has suddenly highly touted its once secret PLA force: 
One is to highlight the important role of the national strategic weapon of its nuclear submarine force and to let the public know that the Chinese sea-based strategic deterrent forces have been formed for a long time and are very reliable. 
Another is to deter some countries that attempt to assault China with ulterior motives. In today’s world, certain countries or groups always regard China as a thorny hostile country and hope to get rid of it. They always contemplate the use of war or even a nuclear strike against China. [Therefore], China must maintain an appropriate nuclear attack and nuclear retaliatory capability. Unleashing the cover of the Chinese nuclear submarine force, China intends to warn those countries hostile to China that China’s nuclear retaliatory capability is strong and that China has the ability to compete and to effectively safeguard its national security. 
Source: Qiushi, October 28, 2013 
http://www.qstheory.cn/zz/wwtj/201310/t20131028_283222.htm
Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

China’s Weapons Exports Go Global

On October 25, Huanqiu (Global Times) published an article about China’s military exports. From 2008 to 2012, China’s arms exports increased by 162 percent. Its market share surpassed Britain and ranked fifth in the world. 

An insider in the Chinese military exports industry informed the Global Times reporter that China’s arms exports in the past consisted mostly of light weapons and army weapons. As technology has improved, the proportion of exports of such weapons has dropped below 50 percent. At the same time, aviation and aerospace products, such as fighter planes and long-range tactical missiles, have increased dramatically. The product mix has evolved from a unitary product to a more complete set of products. In the past, [China] exported only bullets or artillery. Now it can export an entire set of equipment such as equipment for a camp including a variety of tanks, radar, communications equipment, and so on. Chinese military enterprises did a lot of research on NATO weapons systems and can integrate Chinese products into these weapons systems. This is particularly attractive for some countries, so that they do not need to worry about the changing relationships between states or being controlled by others. 

Source: Huanqiu (Global Times), October 25, 2013 
http://mil.huanqiu.com/paper/2013-10/4488462.html

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military