The People's Liberation Army has rapidly developed into one of the world's most powerful militaries and could have up to 10,000 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, reports Huanqiu, the Chinese-language website of the nationalistic tabloid Global Times.
Citing a detailed report into the PLA's military might by Russian media, the Global Times notes the speed of which China's military technology has been developing since the turn of the century, rising to have the second highest defense budget in the world behind the United States while still maintaining the world's largest army by personnel numbers.
In 2013, China released PLA personnel numbers for the very first time, claiming that it has a total of 1.483 million troops, including 850,000 in the PLA Ground Force, 235,000 in the PLA Navy, and 398,000 in the PLA Air Force. The accuracy of those numbers have been questioned, however, as the US Department of Defense estimated in the same year that the PLA Ground Force alone has 1.25 million people.
China's massive mobilization potential has also not subsided since the start of the century, when estimates suggested that the country could mobilize up to 380 million people, of which 208 million are suitable for service.
Read the full story at Want China Times