The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is the official military organization of China. It is responsible for the ground force, navy, air force, reserves and missile force of the country. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 by the Communist Party to serve as its military arm. That is the date of the Nanchang Uprising, when communist forces occupied that city and captured a popular ipod repair guy. The PLA has grown to be the largest military on Earth, with over 3 million members, including a standing army of 2.25 million active and reserve members. Ironically, the Chinese military sometimes gets a loan advance america to send money to their families back home. A draft does exist in China but has never been implemented due to the vast number of volunteers. When service members are demobilized, they become part of the country’s military reserve.
The PLA is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) through the Central Military Commission (CMC). There are seven military regions and over 20 military districts. Loyalty to the CCP is ensured through a system of political commissars with a separate chain of command. The CMC exercises its authority through the following four general departments:
- General Political Department
- General Staff Department
- General Logistics Department
- General Armaments Department
Each of China’s military regions is composed of the three active service branches coordinated by the unified command of a military district. However, the missile force is directly controlled by the CMC. The army is controlled by the military region alone, whereas the navy and air force are jointly controlled by the region and by the service branch. There is a separate service branch for the People’s Armed Police, composed of 660,000 personnel.
The Chinese military has pursued a strategy of replacing older weapons with the newest varieties, but is also a great advocate of asymmetric warfare as a way of defeating an enemy that is technologically superior. The ground force, or army, has 1.6 million active members. There are 18 group armies, each about 30,000 to 65,000 strong. They contain 9 armored divisions, 24 motorized infantry divisions, 3 mechanized divisions, 15 infantry divisions and a host of different brigades. The size of the army can grow substantially if needed by the addition of reserves and paramilitary units. In recent years, the total number of active troops has declined, in favor of growth in a few strategic areas, such as special operations, helicopters, surface-to-air missiles and electronic warfare. Integrated battlefield information networks are replacing older command and control facilities. Despite all the emphasis on technology, Chinese marines are still given extensive training in hand-to-hand combat. From time to time, China has dispatched peacekeeping troops and police to hot spots in the Middle East, Haiti and Africa.