Modernization of the Military

By YIN PUMIN

Modernization of the Military

By YIN PUMIN

China’s armed forces emphasize development and transformation,says national defense white paper

China issued a white paper on national

defense on March 31. The document,the seventh of its kind the Chinese Government has issued since 1998,says China will never seek hegemony or adopt the approach of military expansion now or in the future, no matter how its economy develops.

The white paper, entitledChina’s National Defense in 2010, gives an overall picture of the country’s national defense ranging from the security environment and national defense policy to defense expenditure and arms control.

“The basic purpose of the white paper is to enhance trust and dispel misgivings with the manifesto of the national defense policy,”said Chen Zhou, a research fellow with the Academy of Military Sciences of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), who participated in compiling the defense paper.

Modernization

“China will, as always, link the fundamental interests of the Chinese people with the common interests of people in the world and link its security with world peace,” said Senior Colonel Geng Yansheng, spokesman with the Ministry of National Defense, at a press conference unveiling the white paper.“China will actively participate in international security cooperation and work for global and regional peace and stability.”

The goals and tasks of China’s national defense in the new era are defined as safeguarding national sovereignty, maintaining social harmony and stability, promoting the modernization of national defense and maintaining world peace and stability.

In order to meet the new and changing needs of national security and adapt to new trends in world military development, the PLA has been investing additional efforts in reform, innovation and development, and advancing the overall transformation of the service, according to the white paper.

For the fi rst time, the white paper adopts a special chapter to introduce the modernization of the PLA.

“As time changes, security challenges,including unconventional security threats,have increased globally. China needs to be better prepared for all these changes. The PLA has to speed up its modernization, while at the same time respond to any immediate threats to its security,” said Chen in an interview with national broadcaster, CCTV.

DEFENSE POLICY: Geng Yansheng,spokesman with the Ministry of National Defense, speaks at a press conference unveiling China’s latest national defense white paper on March 31

The white paper says the PLA has grown from a single service into a strong military force featuring a range of services and arms,and is beginning to make progress toward having better information structure.

The PLA has laid down a three-step development strategy and adopted a stepchange approach, which takes mechanization as the foundation and informationization as the focus.

“In modern times, informationization has become a core factor of the modernization of the PLA and China’s national defense,” said Wen Bing, another research fellow with the Academy of Military Sciences.

The PLA has formed a system with second-generation equipment as the main body and third-generation equipment as the backbone.

According to the white paper, the PLA Army has developed for its land operations a weaponry system with helicopters, armored assault vehicles and anti-air and suppression weapons as the spine.

The PLA Navy has built for its maritime operations a weaponry system with new submarines, surface vessels and surface attack aircraft at the core, and the PLA Air Force has formed for its air control operations a weaponry system with new types of combat aircraft and ground-to-air missile systems as the spine.

The PLA Second Artillery Force has set up a ground-to-ground weaponry system with medium- and long-range missiles as the spine.

Recent emergency rescue and disaster relief operations, counter-terrorism exercises,and fully equipped training and maneuvers have tested the achievements of the development and management of weaponry and equipment, demonstrating a notable improvement in the PLA’s capabilities of equipment support, the white paper says.

“The PLA is working to retro fi t its existing weaponry and equipment to upgrade its comprehensive performance in a systematic,organic and integrated way, so as to increase the cost-effectiveness of developing weaponry and equipment,” the white paper says.

New tasks

According to the white paper, the armed forces of China are mainly used in peacetime to respond to multiple security threats.

Their tasks are defined as safeguarding border, coastal and territorial air security,maintaining social stability, participating in national development and disaster relief, and participating in UN peacekeeping operations.

The People’s Armed Police Force(PAPF) is China’s backbone and shock force for handling public emergencies. Since 2009,the PAPF has handled 24 acts of serious violence and crime, including hostage taking,says the white paper.

Meanwhile, the PLA and the PAPF have engaged a total of 1.845 million troop deployments in disaster relief operations in the past two years.

They have rescued or evacuated a total of 1.742 million people, rush-transported 303,000 tons of goods, dredged 3,742 km of waterways, dug 4,443 wells, and forti fi ed 728 km of dikes and dams, says the white paper.

As stipulated by China’s Constitution and laws, an important task for the country’s armed forces is to take part in national construction, emergency rescue, and disaster relief, the white paper says.

The PLA and PAPF have actively participated in and supported national construction work, of which a key component is the largescale western development, the white paper says.

In the past two years, they have partici-pated in construction of more than 600 major infrastructure projects relating to transportation, hydropower, telecommunications and energy, it says.

They have set up more than 3,500 contact points for rural poverty alleviation, and provided assistance to over 8,000 small public initiatives, such as water-saving irrigation projects, drinking water projects, road construction projects, and hydropower projects, it says.

PLA medical and health units have provided assistance to 130 county-level hospitals in poverty-stricken western areas, sent 351 medical teams, the white paper says.

In recent years, China’s armed forces have also actively assisted relevant departments of the Chinese Government to provide relief materials to disaster-stricken countries,and have sent specialized teams to join international disaster relief operations, says the white paper.

Since the PLA provided relief supplies to Afghanistan in 2002, it has carried out 28 urgent international humanitarian aid missions,and provided 22 disaster-hit countries with relief materials worth over 950 million yuan($139 million), the white paper says.

In 2001, the Chinese International Search and Rescue (CISR) team began to participate in international disaster relief operations.The CISR has since carried out eight rescue operations in disaster-stricken countries, according to the white paper.

As of December 2010, China has dispatched 17,390 military personnel to 19 UN peacekeeping missions. Nine officers and soldiers have lost their lives on duty.

“In recent years, China has become involved more and more in these foreign missions. In the future, China will play a bigger role in maintaining world peace and stability,” said Colonel Yang Yujun from the Ministry of National Defense, in an interview with CCTV.

“Chinese armed forces are engaged in international missions that are peaceful, coop-

White Paper Contents

Preface

I. The Security Situation

II. National Defense Policy

III. Modernization of the People’s

Liberation Army

IV. Deployment of the Armed Forces V. National Defense Mobilization

and Reserve Force Building

VI. Military Legal System

VII. Science, Technology and Industry

for National Defense

VIII. Defense Expenditure

IX. Military Confidence-Building

X. Arms Control and Disarmament erative and constructive in nature, under the UN Charter and related international rules,”said spokesman Geng. “While conducting escort operations in the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somalia, the Chinese navy not only protected Chinese vessels but also foreign ones and those of international organizations.”

He also said the military exercises and training between Chinese and foreign armed forces have followed the principles of being non-aligned, non-confrontational and not directed against any third party. “The exercises the Chinese navy has conducted along the Chinese coast and nearby waters were routine and did not target any other country,” he said.

Budget

China’s defense expenditure grew by 17.5 percent in 2008 and 18.5 percent in 2009. The defense budget for 2010 was 532.115 billion yuan ($77.91 billion), up 7.5 percent from 2009.

In early March, China unveiled a 12.7-percent rise in its 2011 defense budget of 601.1 billion yuan ($88 billion).

China’s defense expenditure mainly comprises expenses for personnel, training and maintenance, and equipment, with each accounting for roughly one third of the total.

PEACEKEEPERS HOME:Chinese peacekeepers arrive in Xi’an,northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, on November 21,2010, after finishing their eight-month mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo

“The budget increase is timely and reasonable for modernizing China’s armed forces and safeguarding the country’s expanding national interests in the face of new challenges created by the changing international security environment,” said Yang Yi, former Director of the Institute for Strategic Studies of the PLA National Defense University.

In the past two years, the increase in defense expenditure has been used to improve support conditions for the troops and accomplish diversi fi ed military tasks, ranging from earthquake rescue to escort operations in the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somalia.

“To rescue Chinese citizens from Libya,the government had to send military aircraft and warships. Expenses for such events have to come from the military budget, too,” Yang said. “Such operations are more likely to increase in the future.”

Besides, in view of the upward trend in purchasing prices and maintenance costs,China has moderately increased the funds for high-tech weaponry and equipment and their supporting facilities, says the white paper.

Other highlights

Chen said the view held by some Westerners that military transparency is a prerequisite for military con fi dence building is misleading.

“Transparency can be a means to increase mutual trust, but it must be based on mutual trust,” he said. “Transparency without mutual trust does not hold any practical meaning as it can not actually eliminate threats and fears.In order to achieve mutual trust, fi rst of all we must continue to expand common interests and respect each other’s strategic interests,”Chen said.

As for arms control and disarmament, the white paper says China attaches importance to and takes an active part in international efforts in the fi eld of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation.

It says China adheres to the complete fulfi llment of the UN’s role in this area, and that of other related international organizations and multilateral mechanisms.

China considers existing multilateral arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation systems should be consolidated and strengthened, that the legitimate and reasonable security concerns of all countries should be respected and accommodated, and that global strategic balance and stability should be maintained.

The white paper proposes, for the fi rst time,authorities on both sides of the Taiwan Straits should explore the possibility of building a military security mechanism of mutual trust.

“The two sides can hold contacts and exchanges on military issues at an appropriate time and talk about the military security mechanism of mutual trust,” Geng said.