Three New China Army Units Added to World’s Largest Standing Force

Summary: Three new China army units keep the People’s Liberation Army as the world’s largest standing force despite earlier announced troop cuts by 300,000.

Changes in China's People's Liberation Army are aimed at making the world's largest standing force also the world's strongest; Soldiers of Chinese People's Liberation Army 1st Amphibious Mechanized Infantry Division (Tuesday, July 12, 2011, 16:13:07, Department of Defense DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley/Released): Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff/US Department of Defense, United States government work, via Flickr

Three new China army units are intended to modernize the Chinese military and to renew the Chinese nation in 2016, according to an announcement Dec. 31, 2015, in the state media agency.

The changes became official through a ceremony attended by People’s Liberation Army officers and soldiers and by President Xi Jinping and covered by China state television. President Xi can be seen in the televised proceedings presenting red military flags to Commander Wei Fenghe and Political Commissar Wang Jiasheng of the Rocket Force. He described creation of the general command, the missile force and the strategic support force in order “to realize the Chinese dream of a strong military.”

Modernization and reform entail additional army units.

President Xi found “the great renewal of the Chinese nation” obstructed by corruption at the level of senior officers, obsolescence of equipment and overlap of systems. Investigations and arrests that imprisoned dozens of senior officers generated a series of commentaries against army modernization, job insecurity and troop cuts in the military’s newspaper.

China has the world’s largest standing force since the Chinese military maintains a 2.3 million-strong army, whose troop numbers President Xi will cut back by 300,000. The reduction involves non-combat personnel in order not to compromise the Chinese military since a 2 million-strong army still figures as the world’s largest standing force.

Streamlined systems and updated weaponry join new China army units as presidential priorities.

The scope and the sequence of the reforms and the upgrades keep to a five-year-plan whereby a joint operational command structure must be effectuated by 2020.

Thursday’s ceremony let viewers witness Li Zuocheng, Chengdu military region former commander and new land command force head, interacting with President Xi, Central Military Commission chair. The Central Military Commission merges into one entity the supervisory powers previously held by four headquarters to tighten control by party leadership over the Chinese army. It needs a bribe-free, nation-integrated and region-integrated command structure that will deliver aircraft carriers and submarines to the Navy and stealth fighters to the Air Force.

President Xi occupies the chairmanship after accusations of two previous vice-chairmen taking bribes.

Safeguards against corruption, obsolescence and redundancy prompted President Xi’s position descriptions for the Rocket Force and the Strategic Support Force units in the People’s Liberation Army. Service as “core force of strategic deterrence” qualified Rocket Force to replace the Second Artillery Force’s controlling conventional and nuclear weaponry in the Chinese military arsenal. President Xi relies upon Rocket Force strength to “enhance nuclear deterrence and counter-strike capacity, medium- and long-range precision strike ability, as well as strategic check-and-balance capacity.” Analysts suggest that the new Strategic Support Force most likely will focus upon cyber warfare as part of integrating streamlined and updated operating models and systems.

(left to right) Gao Jin, commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army's (PLA) Strategic Support Force; Chinese President Xi Jinping; and Liu Fulian, Strategic Support Force's political commissar, in Beijing, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015 (Xinhua/Li Gang): China Xinhua News @XHNews, via Twitter Jan. 4, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Changes in China's People's Liberation Army are aimed at making the world's largest standing force also the world's strongest; Soldiers of Chinese People's Liberation Army 1st Amphibious Mechanized Infantry Division (Tuesday, July 12, 2011, 16:13:07, Department of Defense DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley/Released): Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff/US Department of Defense, United States government work, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/42310076@N04/5932613547

(left to right) Gao Jin, commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army's (PLA) Strategic Support Force; Chinese President Xi Jinping; and Liu Fulian, Strategic Support Force's political commissar, in Beijing, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015 (Xinhua/Li Gang): China Xinhua News @XHNews, via Twitter Jan. 4, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/XHNews/status/684024347372093440

For further information:

Blanchard, Ben. 1 January 2016. “China Creates Three New Military Units in Push to Modernize Army.” Reuters > Edition U.S. > World.
Available @ http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-defence-idUSKBN0UF1SU20160101

CCTV News. 1 January 2016. "China rolls out new military reform plan." YouTube.
Available @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YA23cYWUVs

China Xinhua News @XHNews. 4 January 2016. "Newly-formed PLA forces vow to contribute to Chinese dream of strong military." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/XHNews/status/684024347372093440