People's Liberation ArmyFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

PLA

Military manpowerMilitary age 18 years of ageVoluntary ages 18-49 to join

Availability

males ages of 18-49:342,956,265female age 18-49:324,701,244(2005 est.)

Fit for militaryservice

males age 18-49:281,240,272female age 18-49:269,025,517 (2005 est.)

Active troops 2,250,000 (Ranked 1st)Total troops 7,024,000 (Ranked 3rd)Paramilitaryforce 1,500,000

Reachingmilitary ageannually

males: 13,186,433females : 12,298,149 (2005est.)

Military expenditures

Dollar figure

controversial, ($60-90Billion) see: Military budgetof the People's Republic ofChina

Percent of GDPcontroversial, see: Militarybudget of the People'sRepublic of China

Note: The actual amount of PRC militaryspending remains highly controversial. First,the military may get resources which are notlisted in the official budget. Second, anagreement on the conversion factor used toconvert military expenditures to dollars isquite difficult.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) (Pinyin: Zhōnggúo Rénmín Jiěfàng Jūn) is themilitary of the People's Republic of China (PRC). It is the largest standing army in the world and is alsothe largest employer in the world, with 2.25 million troops, and includes naval, air, and strategic nuclearforces. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927, as the military arm of the Communist Party ofChina, and was named the Red Army until June 1946. The People's Liberation Army's insignia consistsof a round device with a red star bearing the Chinese characters for "Eight One" referring to August 1(Pinyin: bāyī), the date of the 1927 Nanchang Uprising, surrounded by wheat ears and cog wheels.

Organization

People's Liberation Army in dress uniform.

Leadership by the Chinese Communist Party is a fundamental principle of the Chinese militarycommand system. The PLA reports not to the State Council of the People's Republic of China but ratherto two Central Military Commissions, one belonging to the state and one belonging to the party. Inpractice, the two CMC's do not conflict because their membership is usually identical. Often, the onlydifference in membership between the two occurs for a few months every five years, during the periodbetween a Party Congress, when Party CMC membership changes, and the next ensuing NationalPeople's Congress, when the State CMC changes. The Central Military Commission carries out itsresponsibilities according to the authority given to it by the Constitution and National Defense Law. [1]

In December 1982, the fifth National People’s Congress revised the State Constitution to providethat the State Central Military Commission leads all the armed forces of the state. The chair of the StateCMC is chosen and removed by the full NPC while the other members are chosen by the NPC StandingCommittee. However, the CMC of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party remained theParty organization that directly leads the military and all the other armed forces. In actual practice, theParty CMC, after consultation with the democratic parties, proposes the names of the State CMCmembers of the NPC so that these people after going through the legal processes can be elected by theNPC to the State Central Military Commission. That is to say, that the CMC of the Central Committeeand the CMC of the State are one group and one organization. However, looking at it organizationally,these two CMCs are subordinate to two different systems – the Party system and the State system.Therefore the armed forces are under the absolute leadership of the Communist Party and are also thearmed forces of the state. This is unique joint leadership system reflects the origin of People’s LiberationArmy; as the military branch of the communist party, it only became the state military after the PRC wasestablished in 1949.

By convention, the chairman and vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission are civilianmembers of the Communist Party of China, but they are not necessarily the heads of the civiliangovernment. Both Jiang Zemin and Deng Xiaoping retained the office of chairman even afterrelinquishing their other positions. All of the other members of the CMC are uniformed active officers.As with other nations, the Minister of National Defense of the People's Republic of China is not the headof the military, and is usually a vice chairman of the CMC.

The PLA general departments are composed of the General Staff Department, the GeneralPolitical Department, the General Logistics Department and the General Armaments Department [GAD,sometimes translated as General Equipment Department]. The GPD maintains a system of politicalcommissars which maintain a separate chain of command to ensure loyalty to the party and the civiliangovernment. The CMC exercises leadership over the military regions, the Navy and the Air Force andthe Second Artillery through the four general departments. Within a military region, the three servicebranches are coordinated in the battle operations [zuozhan xingdong] under the unified command of themilitary district. The Second Artillery is however under the direct leadership of the CMC. The armyunits in a military region are under the leadership of that military region. The navy and air force troopsin a military region are under the joint leadership of the military region and their service branch.

The state military system inherited and upholds the principle of the Communist Party’s absoluteleadership over the people’s armed forces. The Party and the State jointly established the CentralMilitary Commission that carries out the task of supreme military leadership over the armed forces. The1954 PRC Constitution provides that the State President directs [tongshuai] the armed forces and madethe State President the chair of the Defense Commission (the Defense Commission is an advisor body, itdoes not lead the armed forces). On September 28, 1954, the Central Committee of the ChineseCommunist Party re-established the Central Military Commission as the leader of the PLA and thepeople’s armed forces. From that time onwards, the system of joint system of Party and state militaryleadership was established. The Central Committee of the Communist Party leads in all military affairs.The State President directs the state military forces and the development of the military forces managedby the State Council.

In order to ensure the absolute leadership of the Communist Party over the armed forces, everylevel of Party committee in the military forces implements the principles of democratic centralism, thedivision and higher levels establish political commissars and political organizations, and ensure that thebranch organizations are in line [jianchi zhibu zai lianshang]. These systems melded the Partyorganization with the military organization in order to achieve the Party’s leadership and administrativeleadership. This is the key and guarantee to the absolute leadership of the Party over the military.

On November 11, 1949 the Air Force leadership structure was established and the Navyleadership the following April. In 1950 the leadership structures of the artillery, armored troops, airdefense troops, public security forces, and worker – soldier militias were also established. Later wereestablished the leadership organizations of other forces such as the chemical warfare defense forces[fang huaxue bing], the railroad forces [tielu bing], the communications forces, and the second artillery[di er paobing].

The leadership of each type of military force is under the leadership and management of thecorresponding part of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the Chinese Communist Party Central

Committee. Forces under each military branch or force such as subordinate forces, academies andschools, scientific research and engineering institutions, logistical support organizations etc. are alsounder the leadership of the CMC. This arrangement has been especially useful as China has over the pastseveral decades moved increasingly towards military organizations composed of forces from more thanone military branch. In September 1982, in order to meet the needs of military modernization and toimprove coordination in the command of forces including multiple service branches and to strengthenunified command of the military, the CMC ordered that the leadership organization of the variousmilitary branches be abolished. The PLA now has Air Force, Navy and Second Artillery leadershiporgans.

In 1986, the People’s Armed Forces Department, except in some border regions, was put underthe joint leadership of the PLA and the local authorities. Although the local Party organizations paidclose attention to the People’s Armed Forces Department, as a result of some practical problems, theCMC decided that after April 1, 1996 the People’s Armed Forces Department [Renmin Wuzhuang Bu]will be under once again be under the PLA.

Under the General Staff Headquarters are the seven military regions: Shenyang, Beijing,Lanzhou, Jinan, Nanjing, Guangzhou, and Chengdu. The organization into MAC's has been muchcriticized as being obsolete and irrelevant for the 21st century, and there is wide speculation that thesystem will be drastically altered in the next several years.

Coordination with civilian national security groups such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs isachieved primarily by leading groups of the Communist Party of China. Particularly important are theLeading group on foreign affairs, and the leading group on Taiwan.

Structure

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) deploys the world’s largest ground force, currentlytotalling some 1.6 million personnel, or about 70% of the PLA’s total manpower (2.3 million in 2005).The ground forces are divided among the seven military regions named above.

The regular forces of the ground forces consist of 18 group armies, which are corps-sizecombined arms units each with 30,000~65,000 personnel. The group armies contain, according to theInternational Institute for Strategic Studies's 2006 Military Balance, among them 9 armoured divisions,3 mechanised infantry divisions, 24 motorised infantry divisions, 15 infantry divisions, two amphibiousassault divisions, one mechanised infantry brigade, 22 motorised infantry brigades, 12 armouredbrigades, 7 artillery divisions, 14 artillery brigades, 19 antiaircraft artillery/air-defence missile brigades,and 10 army aviation (helicopter) regiments(two training).

There are also three airborne divisions, which are manned by the PLA Air Force (PLAAF). ThePLA Navy (PLAN) has two multi-arm marine brigades.

In times of crisis, the PLA ground forces will be reinforced by numerous reserve andparamilitary units. The PLA reserve component has about 1.2~1.5 million personnel divided into 30infantry, and 12 anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) divisions. In addition, approximately 1.1 million personnelserve in the People's Armed Police (PAP), which includes internal security and border defence forces

under the control of the Ministry of Public Security. The PAP internal security forces are organised into14 mobile divisions, 31 provisional/municipal internal security general corps, and 23provisional/municipal border defence general corps.

The armoured combat units previously known as tank divisions and brigades are now called“armoured” divisions and brigades to reflect their more combined arms nature. The PLA hastransformed some former motorised infantry divisions (truck mobile) into mechanised units with trackedor wheeled armoured personnel carriers (APC). Two amphibious mechanised divisions were alsocreated in Nanjing and Guangzhou MR. At least 40% of PLA divisions and brigades are nowmechanised or armoured, almost double the percentage before the reduction.

While much of the PLA ground force was being reduced over the past few years, technology-intensive elements such as special operations forces (SOF), army aviation (helicopters), surface-to-airmissile (SAM), and electronic warfare units have all been rapidly expanded. The latest operationaldoctrine of the PLA ground forces highlights the importance of information technology, electronic andinformation warfare, and long-range precision strikes in future warfare. The older generationtelephone/radio-based command, control, and communications (C3) systems are being replaced by anintegrated battlefield information networks featuring local/wide-area networks (LAN/WAN), satellitecommunications, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based surveillance and reconnaissance systems, andmobile command and control centres.

As will be repeated below, the PLA has paid close attention to the performance of the US groundforces in Afghanistan and Iraq. As well as learning from the success of the US military in information-centric warfare, joint operations, C4ISR, hi-tech weaponry, etc. the PLA is also studying theunconventional tactics that could be used to exploit the vulnerabilities of a more technologically-advanced enemy. This has been reflected in the two parallel guidelines for the PLA ground forcesdevelopment. While speeding up the process of introducing new equipment into the force and retiringthe older equipment, the PLA also places an emphasis on finding ways of using existing equipment todefeat an enemy with technology dominance.

Terms of service

Theoretically, all citizens of the PRC have the duty of performing military service. In practice,military service with the PLA is voluntary; all 18-year-old people have to register themselves with thegovernment authorities, in a way similar to the Selective Service System of the United States. The mainexception to this system applies to potential university students (male and female), who are required toundergo military training before their courses commence.

Residents of the two Special Administrative Regions, Hong Kong and Macau, are prohibitedfrom joining the PLA.

History

Creation and evolution

Vintage Chinese propaganda poster showing strength and determination of People's Liberation Army. The captionreads, "An Army of the People is Invincible". The soldier on top is shown to be holding a copy of "Quotations fromChairman Mao Zedong".

The People's Liberation Army was founded on August 1, 1927 during the Nanchang Uprisingwhen troops of the Kuomintang (KMT) rebelled under the leadership of Zhu De and Zhou Enlai shortlyafter the end of the first Kuomintang-Communist alliance. They were then known as the Chinese RedArmy . Between 1934 and 1935, the Red Army survived several campaigns lead against it by ChiangKai-Shek and engaged in the Long March.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945, the Communist military forces werenominally integrated into the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China forming the EighthRoute Army and the New Fourth Army units. During this time, these two military groups used primarilyguerrilla tactics, but also fought several conventional battles with the Japanese and the Kuomintang.

After the end of the Sino-Japanese War, the Communist Party merged the two military groupsand renamed the multi-million strong force the People's Liberation Army and eventually won theChinese Civil War.

During the 1950s, the PLA with Soviet help transformed itself from a peasant army into a moremodern one. In November 1950, the PLA or People's Volunteer Army intervened in the Korean War asUnited Nations forces under General Douglas MacArthur approached the Yalu River. Under the weightof this offensive, Chinese forces drove MacArthur's forces out of North Korea and captured Seoul, butwere subsequently pushed back to a line just north of the 38th Parallel. The war ended as a standstill in1953, however, it is generally regarded as a victory by the Chinese people as this is the first time theyever "defeated" a major world power in battle. The reverse is true elsewhere: communist aggression was

halted by US-led UN forces. This war also served as a catalyst for rapid modernization of PLAAF. In1962, the PLA also fought India in the Sino-Indian War and Vietnam in the 1979-88 Sino-Viet War.

Establishment of a professional military force equipped with modern weapons and doctrine wasthe last of the Four Modernizations announced by Zhou Enlai and supported by Deng Xiaoping. Inkeeping with Deng's mandate to reform, the PLA has demobilized millions of men and women since1978 and has introduced modern methods in such areas as recruitment and manpower, strategy, andeducation and training. In 1979, the PLA fought Vietnam over a border skirmish in the Sino-VietnameseWar where it is reported China lost 40,000 regular soldiers versus 20,000 Vietnamese militiamen, Chinawithdrew, both sides claimed victory.

Modernization of PLA units in the past decade.

In the 1980s, the PRC shrunk its military considerably to free up resources for economicdevelopment, resulting the decline in power of the PLA.

Following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, ideological correctness was temporarilyrevived as the dominant theme in Chinese military affairs. Reform and modernization appear to havesince resumed their position as the PLA's priority objectives, although the armed forces' political loyaltyto the Communist Party of China remains a leading concern. One other area of concern to the politicalleadership was the PLA's involvement in civilian economic activities. Concern that these activities wereadversely impacting PLA readiness has led the political leadership to attempt to remove the PLA'sbusiness empire.

Beginning in the 1980s, the PLA tried to transform itself from a land-based power, centered on avast ground force, to a smaller, mobile, high-tech military capable of mounting defensive operationsbeyond its coastal borders. The motivation for this was that a massive land invasion by Russia is nolonger seen as a major threat, and the new threats to the PRC are seen to be a declaration ofindependence by Taiwan, possibly with assistance from the United States, or a confrontation over theSpratly Islands.

In 1985, under the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the CentralMilitary Commission of the Central Committee, the PLA changed from being constantly prepared to“hit early, strike hard and to fight a nuclear war” to developing the military in an era of peace. The PLAreoriented itself to modernization, improving its fighting ability, and to become a more elite force. JiangZemin in 1990 called on the military to “Meet political standards, be militarily competent, have a goodworking style, adhere strictly to discipline, and adequate logistic support” (zhengzhi hege, junshiguoying, jilu youli, baozhang youli). Deng Xiaoping stressed that the PLA needed to focus more onquality than on quantity. The decision of the Chinese government in 1985 to reduce the size of themilitary by one million was completed by 1987. Staffing in military leadership organizations was cut by

about 50%. During the Ninth Five Year Plan (1996 – 2000) the PLA was reduced by another 500,000.The PLA is also to have reduced by another 200,000 by 2005. The PLA is developing into a more eliteforce focusing on increasing mechanization and informatization so as to be able to fight a modern war.[2]

The 1991 Gulf War also provided the PRC leadership with a stark realization that the PLA wasan oversized, obsolescent force. President Jiang Zemin officially instituted a "Revolution in MilitaryAffairs" (a PLA catch-phrase) in the mid-1990s to modernize the Chinese armed forces. A goal of theRMA is to transform the PLA into a force capable of winning what it calls "Local Wars Under HighTech Conditions" rather than a massive, numbers-dominated ground war against Russia. In addition, theeconomic center of gravity of mainland China has shifted from the interior to the coastal regions and thePRC is now more dependent on trade than it has been in the past. The possibility of a militarily resurgentJapan remains a worry to the Chinese military leadership as well.

The PLA has acquired some advanced weapons systems, including Sovremenny class destroyers,Sukhoi Su-27 and Sukhoi Su-30 aircraft, and Kilo-class diesel submarines from Russia. It has alsocompleted 4 new destroyers including 2 AAW Type 052C class guided missile destroyers. In addition,the PLA has attempted to build an indigenous aerospace and military industry with its production of theJ-10. The PLA launched a new class of nuclear submarine on December 3, 2004 capable of launchingnuclear warheads that could strike targets across the Pacific Ocean. The PLA is also building an aircraftcarrier battle group to secure energy lines in the South China Sea, though Beijing has denied they have acarrier program.

PRC military regions (1996).

China's military leadership has also been reacting to and learning from the successes and failuresof the American military during the Gulf War, the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the 2003 Invasion ofIraq, and the ongoing Iraqi Insurgency.

Major wars and events

1931 to 1945: World War II against Imperial Japan

1945 to 1950: Chinese Civil War against forces of the Kuomintang; occupation ofTibet

1950 to 1953: Korean War (under the official banner of the Chinese People'sVolunteers, although they consisted of PLA regulars.)

August 1954 to May 1958: Taiwan Strait Crisis at Quemoy and Matsu October 1962 to November 1962: Sino-Indian War 1966 to 1976: Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution 1969 to 1978: Border skirmishes with Soviet Union 1974: Battle of Hoang Sa 1979: Sino-Vietnamese War 1986 and 1988: Border skirmishes with Vietnam

PLA in internal security

In general, the PLA's main job is to protect the country in any crisis. Most violent issues in thecountry however are resorted to the People's Armed Police which acts as the Nation's SWAT force.

Many times, the PLA is involved in flood relief operations in the Yellow River region andperformed admirably well in the eyes of the citizens. Courageous rescues are frequently broadcasted onnational TV, public opinion rates the military higher than the Communist Party of China or the PRCgovernment. However, it was also the same PLA soldiers who drove tanks into the streets of Chinesecapital city - Beijing, and then used guns to kill many unarmed innocent civilians during the TiananmenSquare protests of 1989. So far, the confirmed deaths stemming from the incident, occurring aroundJune 4th of 1989, is 186 as of June of 2006.

The PLA and commercial enterprises

Until the mid-1990's the PLA had extensive commercial enterprise holdings in non-militaryareas, particularly real estate. Almost all of these holdings were allegedly spun-off in the mid-1990s. Inmost cases, the management of the companies remained unchanged, with the PLA officers running thecompanies simply retiring from the PLA to run the newly formed private holding companies.

The history of PLA involvement in commercial enterprises begins in the 1950s and 1960s.Because of the socialist state-owned system and from a desire for military self-sufficiency, the PLAcreated a network of enterprises such as farms, guesthouses, and factories intended to support its ownneeds. One unintended side effect of the Deng Xiaoping reforms was that many of these enterprisesbecame very profitable. For example, a military guesthouse intended for soldier recreation could easilybe converted into a profitable hotel for civilian use. There were two factors which increased PLAcommercial involvement in the 1990s. One was that running profitable companies decreased the needfor the state to fund the military from the government budget. The second was that in an environmentwhere legal rules were unclear and political connections were important, PLA influence was very useful.

By the early 1990's party officials and high military officials were becoming increasinglyalarmed at the military's commercial involvement for a number of reasons. The military's involvement incommerce was seen to adversely affect military readiness and to cause corruption. Further, there wasgreat concern that having an independent source of funding would lead to decreased loyalty to the party.The result of this was an effort to spin off the PLA's commercial enterprises into private companiesmanaged by former PLA officers, and to reform military procurement from a system in which the PLAdirectly controls its sources of supply to a contracting system more akin to those of Western countries.

The separation of the PLA from its commercial enterprises was largely complete by the year2000. It met with very little resistance, as the spinoff was arranged so that few lost out.

Military Intelligence

The intelligence gathering for the military is carried out under the Second and Third Departmentsof the Headquarters of the General Staff.

By ensuring that these report to the CPC Central Military Commission and the PLA GeneralStaff Headquarters, this unit effectively monitors all external and internal military communications.

Second Department

The Second Department coordinates military human intelligence (HUMINT)and imageryintelligence data. The Second Department does not conduct Signals intelligence (SIGINT), which isconducted by the Third Department.

Units of the Second Department

Analysis Bureau - operates the National Watch Center Institute for International Strategic Studies - is its research institute which

publishes an internal publication Wai Jun Dongtai ("Movement Of ForeignArmies").

First Bureau - responsible for intelligence on Taiwan and Hong Kong. Ofparticular note in this bureau was the "Autumn Orchid" intelligence group whichwas awarded a Citation for Merit, Second Class, in December 1994, and furtheranother Citation for Merit, Second Class.

Third Department

The Third Department is charged with monitoring the telecommunications of foreign armies.

Third Department headquarters is located in the vicinity of the GSD First Department(Operations Department), AMS, and NDU complex in the hills northwest of the Summer Palace.

Units of the Third Department

PLA Foreign Language Institute at Luoyang - responsible for training foreignlanguage specialists for use in monitoring foreign transmissions.

Monitoring Stations

Main Technical Department net control station on the northwest outskirts ofBeijing

A large complex near Lake Kinghathu in the extreme northeast corner of China Jilemutu and Jixi, in the northeast of China - aimed at Russia Erlian and Hami, near the Mongolian border - aimed at Russia Qitai and Korla, in Xinjiang were operated jointly with the CIA during the Cold

War - aimed at Russia

Chengdu and Dayi - aimed at India Great Coco Island, Myanmar (Burma) in the Bay of Bengal - Monitors Indian

naval activity as well as ISRO & DRDO missile and space launch facilities Kunming - aimed at the South Asian countries like Vietnam Fujian and Guangdong military districts - aimed at Taiwan Hainan Island - monitoring the South China Sea

Military technology

Firearms

Chinese Type 56 Assault Rifle.

Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese received massiveamounts of weaponry and equipment as well as the capability to build their own weapons from theSoviet Union before the Sino-Soviet split in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Most of the firearms thatthe People's Liberation Army used in both the past and the present have their origins in many Soviet-Russian small arms like the Mosin-Nagant series rifles and carbines (the Chinese made the RussianMosin-Nagant M-1944 carbine under licence as the Type 53 Carbine), the SKS carbine, the AK-47assault rifle, the RPD light-machine gun, the Tokarev TT33 pistol, the DShK heavy machine gun, andthe Makarov PM series pistols.

The People's Republic of China's main infantry rifle is the Type 81, a modified version of theAK-47. A newer assault rifle designed to replace the Type 81 is the Type 95(aka. QBZ-95).

The People's Liberation Army also utilise locally-manufactured, carbon-copy versions of theRussian AK-47 series rifles and SKS series carbines with the Chinese Type 56 Assault Rifle (a locally-produced version of the AK-47) and the Chinese Type 56 Carbine (a locally-produced version of theSKS).

Despite being similar to the original Russian-made AK-47s and SKSs, both the Chinese Type 56Assault Rifle and the Chinese Type 56 Carbine have a number of differences which separate them fromtheir original Russian counterparts. One example of the difference is that the Chinese Type 56 AssaultRifle has a permanently-attached, stiletto-style bayonet under the barrel of the rifle, a feature that isnative to many Chinese-made AK-47s. The Chinese Type 56 Carbine is also different from the originalRussian-made SKS carbines with the Chinese SKSs also utilising a stilletto-style bayonet like theChinese Type 56 Assault Rifle while the original Russian-made SKS carbines utilised a sword-stylebayonet.

The Chinese Type 56 was mass produced from the 1960s to the 1980s and was exported to manycountries around the world. Despite the introduction of newer rifles like the Type 81 and the QBZ-95,the Chinese Type 56/AK-47 rifles are still used by some PLA second-line and training units. However,

the Chinese Type 56/SKS carbines have been retained for ceremonial duties by the PLA in the samemanner as the SKS has been retained for ceremonial duties in the Russian armed forces.

The People's Liberation Army and police forces are widely equipped with the Type 54, 7.62mmpistol, although newer and better versions exist. The newest pistol in service is the QSZ-92 pistol. ThePeople's Liberation Army and police forces also utilises a locally-produced version of the Russian-madeMakarov PM pistol as their standard issue handgun.

Land weapons

The Chinese Type 99 Main Battle Tank during an exercise

The PLA’s tank inventory was numbered around 10,000 during its peak time in the 1980s/90s,but this was estimated to have reduced to 6,000~8,000 over the past few years. The Chinese-producedversions of the Soviet T-54A (Type 59 and Type 69) account for over two-thirds of the total PLA tankinventory. While retiring some of the older Type 59/69 series and replacing them with the secondgeneration Type 88 and Type 96, the PLA is also upgrading the remaining Type 59/69 series tanks withnew technologies including improved communication and fire-control systems, night vision equipment,explosive reactive armour, improved powerplant, and gun-fired anti-tank missiles so that they canremain in service as mobile fire-support platforms. The latest Type 99 which entered PLA service in2001 is regarded to be among the most advanced main battle tanks in the world.

The PLA also operates about 2,000 light tanks including the Type 62 light tank and the Type 63amphibious tank, both of which entered production in the 1960s. The Type 63 has now been upgradedwith the addition the improved Type 63A featuring computerised fire-control, gun-fired anti-tank guidedmissile (ATGM), night fighting equipment, satellite navigation, and improved powerplant.

Nuclear weapons

In 1955 the Communist Party of China decided to proceed with a nuclear weapons program. Thedecision was made after the United States threatened the use of nuclear weapons against the PRC shouldit take action against Quemoy and Matsu, coupled with the lack of interest of the Soviet Union for usingits nuclear weapons in defense of China.

After their first nuclear test (China claims minimal Soviet assistance before 1960) on October 16,1964, the PRC was the first state to pledge no-first-use of nuclear weapons. On 1st July 1966, theSecond Artillery Corps (as named by Premier Zhou Enlai) was formed. Beijing has deployed a modestballistic missile force, including land and sea-based intermediate-range and intercontinental ballisticmissiles (ICBMs). It is estimated that the PRC has about 24-36 liquid fueled ICBMs capable of strikingthe United States with approximately 100-150 IRBMs able to strike Russia or India. China alsopossesses several hundred SRBMs.

The PRC's nuclear program follows a doctrine of minimal deterrence, which involves having theminimum force needed to deter an aggressor from launching a first strike. The current efforts of the PRCappear to be aimed at maintaining a survivable nuclear force by, for example, using solid-fueled ICBMsin silos rather than liquid-fueled missiles.

The PRC became a major international arms exporter during the 1980s. Beijing joined theMiddle East arms control talks, which began in July 1991 to establish global guidelines for conventionalarms transfers, and later announced that it would no longer participate because of the U.S. decision tosell 150 F-16A/B aircraft to Taiwan on September 2, 1992.

It joined the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 1984 and pledged to abstain fromfurther atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in 1986. The PRC acceded to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1992 and supported its indefinite and unconditional extension in 1995. In1996, it signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and agreed to seek an international ban on theproduction of fissile nuclear weapons material.

In 1996, the PRC committed to provide assistance to unsafeguarded nuclear facilities. The PRCattended the May 1997 meeting of the NPT Exporters (Zangger) Committee as an observer and becamea full member in October 1997. The Zangger Committee is a group which meets to list items that shouldbe subject to IAEA inspections if exported by countries, which have, as the PRC has, signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty. In September 1997, the PRC issued detailed nuclear export control regulations. ThePRC began implementing regulations establishing controls over nuclear-related dual-use items in 1998.The PRC also has decided not to engage in new nuclear cooperation with Iran (even under safeguards),and will complete existing cooperation, which is not of proliferation concern, within a relatively shortperiod. Based on significant, tangible progress with the PRC on nuclear nonproliferation, PresidentClinton in 1998 took steps to bring into force the 1985 U.S.-China Agreement on Peaceful NuclearCooperation.

Chemical weapons

The People's Republic of China is not a member of the Australia Group, an informal andvoluntary arrangement made in 1985 to monitor developments in the proliferation of dual-use chemicalsand to coordinate export controls on key dual-use chemicals and equipment with weapons applications.In April 1997, however, the PRC ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and, in September1997, promulgated a new chemical weapons export control directive.

Aircraft inventory

The majority of China's military aircraft are operated by the People's Liberation Army Air Force,as well as a substantial number by the People's Liberation Army Navy. However, the Army itself hasrecently been operating its own growing helicopter fleet, currently numbering around 100 helicopters inservice.

Aircraft Origin Type Versions Inservice[3] Notes

AérospatialeAlouette III France

utilityhelicopter SA 316 6

AérospatialeGazelle France scout helicopter SA 342L 8

Harbin Z-9 Chinascout/attackhelicopter

Z-9WZ-9 25

license-builtEurocopter SA 365Dauphin

Mil Mi-6 Russiatransporthelicopter 3

Mil Mi-17 Russiatransporthelicopter 61

Space-Based System

The PLA has deployed a number of space based system for military purposes including:

imagery reconnaissance satellites like the ZiYan series, the militarily designatedJianBings series

Synthetic Aperture Satellites (SAR) such as JianBing-5 BeiDou Satellite Navigation Network secured communication satellites with FENGHUO-1.

On January 11, 2007 China conducted a test of an anti-satellite missile.

Manned Spaceflight

The PLA is responsible for China' Manned Spaceflight Program. To date, all the taikonauts havebeen selected among the PLA Airforce. China became only the third country in the world to have sent aman into space by its own means with the flight of colonel Yang Liwei aboard the Shenzhou 5spacecraft on October 15, 2003.

Missile Technology Control Regime

While not formally joining the regime, in March 1992, the PRC undertook to abide by theguidelines and parameters of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the multinational effortto restrict the proliferation of missiles capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction. The PRCreaffirmed this commitment in 1994 and pledged not to transfer MTCR-class ground-to-ground missiles.In November 2000, the PRC committed to not assist in any way the development by other countries ofMTCR-class missiles.

Lasers

The PLA continues to develop laser-based weapon systems, primarily for battlefield use. Whilefar from the ray guns of science fiction, the systems are employed in blinding opponents, making themhighly effective against infantry. The technical problem of combating such a weapon is that, since anyform of protection must protect against specific frequencies of light, troops will be unable to beprotected against most/all possible frequencies without losing considerable, if not all, visual abilitiesfrom protective gear (which would, in effect, have to be all black or completely reflective so as to avoidany light). A helmet-mounted camera coupled with an opaque visor display would be an effectivecounter-measure, which isn't significantly more advanced than the current Landwarrior systememployed by the US.

Land mines

The PRC remains opposed to international proposal of limiting the use of landmines.

Miscellaneous

Hong Kong and Macau

The PLA maintains a number of garrisons in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,notably at the Chinese People's Liberation Army Forces Hong Kong Building, Stonecutters Island, andat Stanley Fort. Soldiers located at these garrisons are considered to be the cream of the PLA, but are notpermitted to leave their compounds, even during off-duty times to mingle with the local populace. Acontingent of local Hong Kong press was taken on a tour of the Chinese People's Liberation ArmyForces Hong Kong Building compound in 2002, and every year the Stanley Fort compound is openedfor inspection to the public. It also has a garrison in the Macau Special Administrative Region.

Military spending

The growth rate of the military spending of the People's Republic of China has expanded morethan 10% for the past 15 years. The United States, Japan, and NGOs like SIPRI, claim that China hidesits real military spending.