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PLA to upgrade defense, personnel structure

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-03 09:23

The major part of China's armed forces, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), has set a goal of building up a defense that is capable of handling threats in multidimensional battlefields.

Celebrating the PLA's 82th anniversary on Saturday, military experts said an ongoing significant reform inside the 2.3-million strong PLA will require a modernization of the Navy and Air Force.

Members of special forces mount a helicopter on the Zhoushan missile frigate during a escort trip in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday. The frigate, together with two other vessels, form the country's third batch of flotilla in the escort mission off the pirate-infested coast of Somalia. [Xinhua]

Among three PLA senior officers who were promoted to full generals on July 20, Deputy Chief of General Staff Ma Xiaotian was awarded three-star insignias on the shoulder of his original Air Force blue uniform.

PLA officers from different services used to change to the Army's green uniforms when they were promoted to the highest positions in the PLA, a symbol of the Army's dominance in the PLA.

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For example, General Liu Huaqing abandoned his white uniform as the Navy's commander after being promoted to vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) in 1987.

General Ma is the first military leader outside of the Army to be promoted and to maintain his original uniform, symbolic of an effort to pay more attention to the other military branches.

In China's top military authority, commanders of the PLA's Navy, Air Force and the Second Artillery Corps for the first time will become members of the CMC.

"Keeping original uniforms is just a superficial phenomenon," said Gong Fangbin, a professor with the PLA's National Defense University.

"Becoming members of the decision-making CMC will greatly increase engagement in the PLA's major deployments by the Navy, Air Force and the Second Artillery. The move also follows an increasing trend of the global military development," Gong said.

As a spectator on the visitor's stand beside the Tian'anmen gate tower for the National Day parade in 1984, Gong said the PLA adopted an Army-dominating concept after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, because at that time, the major security threat against the country was an inland attack.

"When we saw the ballistic missile launcher vehicles for the first time in the parade, we were surprised and even shocked because most didn't know what kind of weapon system it was," Gong said.

"I'm looking forward to witnessing new cutting-edge equipment in the upcoming National Day parade. The PLA should acquire more advanced weapons systems to protect China's growing overseas interests," he said.

Gong's goal has already begun in the country's unprecedented naval deployment to the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters to escort merchant vessels, protecting them against piracy, since the end of last year.

The PLA has also started to improve its personnel structure by encouraging more college graduates to join the military forces.

A recruitment campaign this summer enlisted about 120,000 college graduates who will fulfill their two-year military service at the end of the year.

"The move will significantly change the structure of the PLA's enlisted personnel, which used to consist of poorly educated farmers in the early days of the country's foundation," Gong said.

"What's more important is it will greatly enhance the common citizens' awareness of the responsibility to serve the country, since a college education is no longer enjoyed by only a few in China," he said.

"The college graduates with the experience of two-year military service also help to improve the military reserves for the whole country," Gong added.

The PLA was founded by the Communist Party of China in 1927 when the country was embroiled in territorial fights led by warlords.

Xinhua