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Military support to peaceful development

By Yang Yi (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-06 07:40

The past three decades since China's reform and opening up have witnessed rapid development in the country's build-up of national defense and its armed forces.

Two outstanding changes took place during this period.

One is the change of the mode and doctrine in building the national defense and the armed forces. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has been transforming itself from a closed, ill-equipped, oversized force into a modernized power backed by mechanization and informationization.

The second change relates to the area of the military's missions and roles. While still performing its duty to maintain national security, the Chinese army is providing the international society with more and more "public goods". The PLA has been playing an increasingly outstanding role in providing strategic support to the construction of a harmonious world, to China's peaceful development and to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

China was confronted with severe military threats immediately after the founding of the People's Republic in 1949. So the country invested heavily in national defense and military building, having kept an army of over 6 million at peak times. When China set economic construction as its focus in the beginning of the opening up, late leader Deng Xiaoping held that "the army should learn to exercise restraint". So the country had maintained a relatively low budget for the construction of its national defense and the military.

What's more, the guiding doctrine of national defense and military building has also undergone a strategic shift, from a combat-ready emergency plan of "engaging in early wars, large-scale wars and nuclear wars" to a long-term peacetime plan of military modernization.

In 1985, the Chinese government decided to cut 1 million soldiers from the army, and another half a million were demobilized in 1997, and 200,000 more in 2003.

While downsizing its armed forces, China also readjusted the structure of its military formation. Land forces were reduced on a large scale, and three military regions were disbanded. Emphasis was laid upon the construction of the navy, the air forces and the second artillery forces.

Deriving inspiration from the Gulf War, and drawing lessons from the new military transformations undertaken by Western countries, China readjusted its military strategic guidelines from fighting back large-scale military invasion to winning local wars under hi-tech conditions, and later to winning local wars in the era of information.

The PLA has made increased efforts in the modernization of its weaponry. It has discarded outdated planes, tanks and warships. With the introduction and development of new, advanced military equipment, the PLA has greatly upgraded its main weapons for the army, the navy and the air forces, especially in the capability of information warfare.

The PLA reinstated its military ranks system in 1988, followed by the overall distribution of new military uniforms that are much similar to the uniforms worn by other militaries. The promulgation of a series of rules, laws and regulations set the military on the right track of regularization and legalization.

While rapidly developing itself in the course of reform and opening up, the PLA also made its contributions in the country's peaceful development, in safeguarding world peace and promoting common development.

The PLA has been actively engaging itself in military diplomacy. First of all, it has strengthened its military ties with neighboring and Third World countries. In the meantime, it has also enhanced military exchanges with developed countries, providing a strong support to China's overall diplomacy.

In particular, the Chinese Navy has had a unique part to play in China's military exchanges with foreign armies. Chinese naval fleet has been dispatched to a dozen countries, covering major oceans and continents.

The PLA has sent military students to many countries and has accepted nearly 1,000 military students and trainees from Asian, African, Latin American and European countries.

The PLA has opened to foreign visitors some of its military units and military academies, and also has invited foreign military delegations and attaches to observe some military demonstrations and drills.

The PLA has participated in many Asia-Pacific multilateral security conferences, Asia-Pacific defense officers' forums, Northeast Asia cooperation dialogues, ASEAN regional forums, West Pacific navy forums and many multilateral security seminars. It has also set up regular security consultation mechanisms with defense authorities in the US, Russia, UK, India, Japan and other countries.

In the wake of Sep 11 terrorist attacks in the US in 2001, China has actively carried out joint anti-terrorism military maneuvers with related countries. Since 2002, China, together with many other countries, started to conduct bilateral and multilateral joint anti-terrorism maneuvers on the Chinese soil and beyond its borders.

Since 1990, China has dispatched groups of military observers, liaison officers, advisers, and staff officers to take part in various UN peacekeeping activities. From 1992 on, many Chinese military units have been sent to participate in UN peacekeeping tasks. Of the Permanent Five in the UN Security Council, China is the one who has dispatched the most peacekeepers.

Challenged by the emergence of non-traditional security threats, the PLA has joined hands with foreign forces to conduct drills such as joint search and humanitarian assistance since 2000.

Although the PLA has made remarkable progress in the past 30 years, it still has a long way to go before it is fully able to fulfill its new missions. Problems still exist. For example, the reform of the organizational system lags far behind. Mobility, especially capability for long-distance personnel delivery, remains low. Officers at different levels are in need of practical experiences in organizing large-scale military actions. Military theories are not advanced enough to be compatible with the new military transformation. Operational ability to take part in international military cooperation, especially in overseas activities aimed at various security threats, are far behind that of the developed countries.

The author is Rear Admiral with the Institute of Strategic Studies under the University of National Defense

(China Daily 01/06/2009 page8)