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The PRC army: strength, structure. The People's Liberation Army of China (PLA)

The armed forces of the People's Republic of China are considered the most numerous army of the world, as of 2016 it served 2,300,000 people. Over the past twenty years, China has become a serious player in the political and economic arena, so today the major world powers show a particularly keen interest in what the structure and principles of the functioning of the armed forces of the PRC (the decipherment of this abbreviation sounds like the People's Republic of China). Over the past two decades, the country has experienced a lot of unexpected leaps in the economic, social and political terms, reforms have also affected the armed forces. In a few years, an army was created, which today is considered the third largest in the world.

History

It is worth noting that until now all the data on the strength, armament and structure of the PRC army vary. Some sources claim the boundless power and aggressiveness of the Chinese authorities, the aggressive appetites of the Communist Party and the immediate world war. More serious publications call not to exaggerate the possibilities of the Celestial Empire and give examples of the numerous failures of Chinese troops in the past.

The army of the PRC was established on August 1, 1927 during the Civil War, when the Communists defeated the Kuomintang regime. Its modern name - the National Liberation Army (PLA) - it was received somewhat later, after the Second World War. In 1946, only two military units were called so, and only in 1949 the definition began to be used in relation to all the armed forces of the PRC.

It is interesting that the army is not subordinate to the party, but refers to the two military Central Commissions - state and party. Usually they are considered a single entity and use the common name of the CEC. The post of the head of the CEC is very important in the state, so, in the 1980s, he was occupied by Deng Xiaoping, who in fact led the country.

Passage of service

As of 2017, the strength of the Chinese army has somewhat decreased from 2.6 million to 2.3 million, and this is the deliberate policy of the authorities of the People's Republic of China to optimize and improve the military forces, the reduction plan to continue further. But, despite the decline in numbers, the PLA remains the largest in the world.

According to the Chinese legislation, citizens from 18 years of age are subject to the call, after service they remain in stock up to 50 years. In the country, there have long been no appeals in the usual sense of the word, every year hundreds of thousands of volunteers go into the army at will or are recruited. The age composition of the population of China is quite possible, because most of the inhabitants of the country from 15 to 60 years.

The service here is considered a very prestigious occupation, because the soldiers and officers are very strict requirements, and all disciplinary violations are seriously punished. Today, the long-term service is abolished, and instead of it a contract system for a period of 3 to 30 years is practiced. The Sophomans are obligated to repay the debt to their homeland within two years.

It's interesting, but in the Chinese armed forces people who have tattoos can not serve, according to the leadership, such frivolity spoils the image of the most powerful army. And also there is an official directive prohibiting serving those who snore or are obese.

Structure

Despite the fact that the PRC army is under the strict control of the Communist Party, the ideological influence on the military has recently decreased somewhat. The Central Military Council, unlike our Ministry of Defense, has much more powers, in fact all management comes from there, and not from the chairman of the party. The reform of 2016 somewhat changed the structure of control, now there are fifteen divisions, each of which oversees the separate direction and in all submits to the CEC.

Prior to the changes in the statute of limitations, the PRC army consisted of seven districts, but since 2016 they have been replaced by five zones of the military command, this system is organized on the basis of the territorial principle:

  1. The northern zone, the headquarters is the city of Shenyang, the four army groups here must resist the aggression from Mongolia, Russia, Japan and North Korea.
  2. The southern zone: the headquarters in the city of Guangzhou, it consists of three army groups that control the borders with Laos and Vietnam.
  3. Western Zone: the headquarters in Chengdu, is located in the central region of the country, its responsibilities include providing security near Tibet and Xinjiang, as well as preventing possible threats from India.
  4. Eastern zone: the headquarters in Nanjing, controls the border with Taiwan.

The army of the PRC (the abbreviation was listed above) consists of five groups of troops: land, air, navy, missile forces, and in 2016 a new type of troops - the troops of strategic purpose.

Army of the land

The government annually spends on defense $ 50 to $ 80 billion, a larger budget for the United States alone. The main reforms are aimed at optimizing the structure of the army, for its transformation in accordance with the requirements of the modern geopolitical alignment of forces.

The Army of the People's Republic of China is the largest in the world, with approximately 1.6 million employees. The plans of the government to significantly reduce this kind of troops. If before the armed forces of the PRC had the form of divisions, then after the reform of 2016 a brigade structure is assumed.

The armament of the ground forces includes several thousand tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored combat vehicles, howitzers and other types of ground weapons. However, the main problem of the army is that most paramilitary equipment is physically and morally obsolete. The reform of 2016 was just aimed at modifying the weapons of different levels.

Air Force

The air force of the Chinese army occupy the third place in the world, in terms of the number of military equipment (4 thousand), China is second only to the United States and Russia. In addition to combat and associated aircraft, the armed forces of the country have in their assets a little more than a hundred helicopters, one thousand antiaircraft guns and about 500 radar posts. The personnel of the PRC of the PRC, according to one data, is 360 thousand people, on the other - 390 thousand.

The Chinese air force has been conducting its history since the late 1940s. XX century, and the first time the Chinese flew on Soviet-made aircraft. Later, the authorities tried to arrange the release of their own air equipment, simply copying the models according to the drawings of the USSR or the USA. Today the construction of new aircraft, including unique fighters, is in full swing, the PRC plans not only to equip its own army, but also to supply equipment to other countries.

In China there are more than four hundred military airfields, which can take much more units of equipment than there are now. The PRC air forces include several types of troops: aviation, fighter, bomber, assault, transport, reconnaissance, anti-aircraft, radio-technical and airborne.

Naval Forces

The People's Liberation Army of China includes three fleets: the Southern, Northern and Eastern Seas. And the active growth of forces in this direction was noted only from the 1990s, until this time the government of the country did not invest much in its naval forces. But from 2013, when the PLA head announced that the main threat to the Chinese borders comes from the sea, a new era of the formation of a modern and well equipped fleet is beginning.

At present, the Chinese Navy includes surface ships, submarines, one destroyer with naval aviation, and about 230,000 personnel.

Other troops

In the PRC army, missile forces received official status only in 2016. These units are the most secret, the data on weapons are still a secret. So, many questions from the United States and Russia are caused by the number of nuclear warheads. According to various estimates, the figures range from 100 to 650 charges, some experts call several thousand. The main task of the missile forces is to counteract possible nuclear strikes, as well as to develop point strikes against previously known targets.

In addition to the basic genera, the army of the PRC since 2016 includes a special department dealing with electronic warfare and confrontation with cyberattacks. The troops of strategic support, according to some information, were created not only to counter information attacks, but also to conduct intelligence actions, including on the Internet.

Armed militia

According to recent estimates, the Chinese army was more than 2 million people, and almost half of them are part of the PRC's internal troops . The People's Armed Police consists of the following units:

  • Internal security;
  • Protection of forests, transport, border troops ;
  • Protection of gold reserves;
  • Public security forces;
  • Fire fighting units.

The duties of the armed militia include the protection of important state facilities, the fight against terrorists, and during the war they will be enlisted to help the main army.

Carrying out the exercises

The first large-scale exercises of the modern army of the PRC took place in 1999 and 2001, they were aimed at working off the landing on the coast of Taiwan, China has long had sharp territorial disputes with this country. The most successful are the maneuvers of 2006, when troops of two military districts were transferred to a thousand kilometers, which proved the high maneuverability of China's troops.

Three years later, in 2009, there were still large-scale tactical exercises, where 4 of 7 military districts were involved. The main task was to work out joint actions of all types of the army with the use of modern combat equipment, aviation and naval forces. For every demonstration of China's military forces, the whole world is watching, for the last twenty years the PLA has become a serious threat.

Military successes

The former services of the PRC army are not impressed by the great victories and strategic successes. Even in ancient times, China was conquered many times by Mongols, Tanguns, Manchus and Japanese. During the years of the Korean War, the PRC lost tens of thousands of soldiers and did not achieve significant victories. As well as during the conflict with the USSR for the Damansky Island, the Chinese losses far exceeded the losses of the enemy. The PLA achieved its greatest success only during the Civil War, when it was formed.

The people's liberation army of China received a new round of development only twenty years ago, when the weak equipment and unpreparedness of the personnel were finally realized by the government and all measures were taken to reform the troops. The first steps were taken toward decreasing the strength of the army, with the aim of removing the troops that were not directly active in the defense. Now the main emphasis is on the technical equipment and retraining of personnel.

Reforms

Over the past few years, the People's Republic of China has made a huge leap in the rearmament of a country that has not yet had analogs in world history. Practically from scratch, a powerful military infrastructure was created with the latest modern technologies. Today, the PRC annually produces up to 300 pieces of aircraft, dozens of submarines and much more. According to the latest information, the equipment of the PLA is moving much faster than even in NATO.

In 2015, the country to the whole world demonstrated its military achievements at the parade dedicated to the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Unmanned vehicles, landing vehicles and antiaircraft complexes were presented here. The public does not stop blaming China for direct copying of military equipment of other countries. So, in the arsenal of the PLA and today there are analogues of Russian SS.

Interesting Facts

In the PRC army, women have served since the PLA's education, but mostly occupy posts in medical or information departments. Since the 1950s, the beautiful half of the Chinese people began to try themselves in the aviation and navy, and recently the woman even became captain of the ship-hospital.

Over the past sixty years, the insignia of the PRC army have been constantly changing, once this system was even abolished and restored only in the 80s of the twentieth century. The modern structure of military ranks was adopted in 2009, according to him, the following categories are distinguished:

  • General;
  • Lieutenant general;
  • Major-General;
  • Senior Colonel;
  • Colonel;
  • lieutenant colonel;
  • Major;
  • The senior lieutenant;
  • lieutenant;
  • Ensign;
  • Sergeant-major of the first, second, third and fourth grades;
  • staff Sergeant;
  • sergeant;
  • Corporal;
  • Private.

As can be seen from the list, the system of titles is very similar to the traditions of the Soviet armed forces. The modern form of the PRC army was first introduced in 2007, almost a million dollars was allocated for its development. The emphasis was on practicality and versatility, as well as on the beauty and presentability of Chinese military personnel.

Possible aggression

All countries are now very closely watching the increased capacity of the People's Republic of China, over the past twenty years the country has made a huge leap in all directions. Today, almost everywhere, the prefix "most" applies to the Celestial Empire: the largest number of people, the largest economy, the most communist country and the most numerous army.

Of course, such a militarization of China suggests the possible aggression on the part of this state. Experts disagree. Some people hold the view that there has always been a problem of overpopulation in the PRC, and in the future, perhaps, the party will decide to conquer new lands. A serious pollution of nature also adds to the lack of territory, in some regions the ecological issue is particularly acute (for example, in Beijing and Seoul). Some Russian politicians note the suspicious activity of the Chinese army near the borders with Russia, to which Putin unambiguously replied that he does not consider the PRC a threat to our country.

Other experts argue that the actions of the Communist Party are dictated by protection measures. In the modern international situation, each country should be maximally ready for aggression from the outside. For example, China does not like the activity of NATO in the waters of the Pacific and North Korea. Another issue that has long been relevant in China is the accession of Taiwan, the island has resisted communist expansion for several decades. But the party is in no hurry to resort to armed intervention, the economic impact on other countries becomes much more effective.

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