China announced 200,000 job cuts in the world's largest military by the end of next year on top of 500,000 in the mid-1990s, but the streamlining is not expected to affect its ability to attack Taiwan.
Former president Jiang Zemin (
"The form of war is changing from mechanized warfare to information warfare," said Jiang, who attended celebrations marking the 50th founding anniversary of the National Defense Science and Technology University.
"A further reduction of the size of the military would be conducive to focusing our limited strategic resources and accelerating the pace of our military information building," he said.
Xinhua said the PLA would be reduced by another 200,000 before 2005. China trimmed the three million-strong PLA by 500,000 in the mid-1990s.
Western military analysts said the PLA would still be designed and able to invade Taiwan, or at least be enough of a menace to prevent it declaring independence.
"Everything is focused on Taiwan," said a Western diplomat.
The speedy US-led military victory in Iraq this year reminded China how much room there was to modernize its armed forces.
Western military analysts estimate the current strength of the army at about 1.7 million, the navy 220,000 and the air force 420,000. A fourth branch, the Second Artillery Corps, which is responsible for nuclear missile forces, makes up the rest of the PLA.
A Chinese source said Jiang's visit to Hunan also took him to Mao Zedong's (
"Jiang went to Shaoshan to remind everybody he is still the big boss," said the source with ties to the military and who asked not to be identified.
He retired as Communist Party chief last November in the first orderly leadership succession since 1949 and as state president in March.
Jiang visited Shaoshan in 1990 after becoming party chief a year earlier.
The cuts -- the biggest since 1997 when the Communist Party reduced the PLA by an initial 500,000 -- would mean wage hikes and better benefits for servicemen.
And if history is any guide, few of those axed will become unemployed. Many will be shunted into the 1-million-strong People's Armed Police, which acts as riot police and guards government compounds and foreign embassies.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2