China’s mighty People’s Liberation Army can’t win war?
President Xi Jinping
Weaknesses in China’s military training pose a threat to the country’s ability to fight and win a war, China’s official military newspaper said on Sunday.
China’s military authority has sent a document to military units detailing 40 weaknesses in current training methods, the People’s Liberation Army Daily said in a front-page story.
“These problems reflect shortcomings and weak points in the makeup of our military fighting force. If they are not promptly dealt with, then they will certainly affect and hinder our Army’s ability to go to war,” the paper said, citing the People’s Liberation Army general staff headquarters.
President Xi Jinping has been pushing to strengthen the fighting ability of China’s 2.3 million-strong armed forces, the world’s largest, and stepping up efforts to modernise forces that are projecting power across disputed waters in the East and South China Seas.
The country’s armed forces came under fire earlier this year from serving and retired Chinese officers and state media who questioned whether the force was too corrupt to win a war.
The military newspaper said China needed to find a cure for the “peace disease” affecting its training regime to ensure the armed forces could master the ability to win a real conflict.
Military authorities identified issues for the country’s Army, Navy and Air Force, including training standards and styles by commanders and military units. The problems were identified through supervision of drills, including joint exercises with foreign armed forces, the People’s Liberation Army Daily went on to reveal.
China has developed stealth jets and has built one aircraft carrier.
The PLA document detailed 40 problems with current exercises featuring real battle scenarios, official media reported.
“If the problems are not rectified, the PLA’s ability to fight and win will be hindered for sure,” Xinhua news agency quoted the military headquarters as saying.
“The list will help the Army focus on its weaknesses and force them to learn how to fight,” it said.
The challenges include soldiers’ personal problems, current methods and standards of military training and issues of work style in the Army, the report said.
The assessment exercises were held in the backdrop of escalating tensions with Japan over the disputed islands and with Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei on the South China Sea dispute as well as the big American push under the Asia Pivot concept to deploy majority of its assets in Asia-Pacific.
China has a border dispute with India with tensions recurring over aggressive patrolling along the Line of Actual Control, (LAC), resulting in tense stand-offs.
The exercises, which disrupted flight schedules for several weeks last month, were being held on a massive scale to win regional wars, a concept being advocated by the Chinese leadership for long.
Mr Xi has repeatedly asked the troops to be prepared to win actual battles since he took office in 2012.
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