China has unveiled changes to the structure of its military, adding three new units, described by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) as “a major policy decision to realize the Chinese dream of a strong army,” state media reported.
The formation of the new units, which follows Beijing’s announcement that it was building a second aircraft carrier, comes with China acting more aggressively in territorial disputes in the South China Sea and East China Sea, drawing the ire of its neighbors and the US.
Beijing in November last year said it planned sweeping changes in a move intended to enhance the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s control over the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
The latest reforms announced late on Friday are to see a new army unit set up to oversee China’s arsenal of strategic missiles.
Besides the “Rocket Force,” the PLA also unveiled an army general command to serve as the headquarters for land forces and a support unit to assist combat troops, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Xi, who is chief of the Chinese Communist Party and also serves as head of the military, has previously announced plans to slash China’s number of troops by 300,000 to about 2 million to craft a more efficient fighting force.
The Central Military Commission, which Xi chairs, on Friday also released guidelines to help build the country’s vision of a modern military before 2020 by cutting troops and improving the quality of combat personnel, Xinhua said.
The announcements come with China also expanding its naval capacity by building a second aircraft carrier.
The nation’s first such vessel, the Liaoning, is a secondhand Soviet ship built more than 25 years ago that was commissioned by China in 2012 after extensive refits.
The Global Times newspaper, known for its nationalistic editorial stance, said new conditions required a strong army and cited the US as a reason.
“If China has a big gap with the US in terms of military prowess, this will affect its international position and other countries’ attitude toward China,” it said in an editorial posted on its Web site yesterday. “With a strong army, China can be more politically appealing, influential and persuasive.”
Beijing’s armed forces have been involved in sometimes tense confrontations with Japanese and Philippine units over maritime disputes in the East China Sea and South China Sea respectively, prompting fears that the disputes could result in armed clashes.
Meanwhile, the new PLA Rocket Force is tasked with maintaining conventional and nuclear weaponry with the ability to both deter and to strike, Xi told a ceremony for the founding of the three new organizations, according to Xinhua.
However, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of National Defense denied any shift in the country’s nuclear weapons policy.
“China’s nuclear policy and nuclear strategy are consistent, there has been no change whatsoever,” ministry spokesman Yang Yujun (楊宇軍) said on Friday, according to a transcript posted on the ministry’s Web site.
The new unit would take over from the Second Artillery Force, he said.
At a military parade in September last year, China showed off “carrier-killer” missiles, including the land-based DF-21 Mod-4 intermediate-range type, which is thought to be equipped with onboard terminal guidance systems that give it the unprecedented ability to attack a moving target.
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