By Dingding Chen
Reforms (in) the People’s Liberation Army will help the Chinese military emerge as a more potent war-fighting force.
After a long delay, China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army, is finally beginning to reform itself in a big way (see here, here, and here for details). These reform measures are the most significant changes to the PLA since the 1950s and will havehuge implications for China’s future international behavior and global order.
The details of the sweeping reforms are hard to list here, but the major ones include strengthening the role of the Central Military Commission, restructuring the existing seven military regions, cutting off some non-military organizations, and increasing the power of the Military Party Discipline Commission. Combined with President Xi Jinping’s promise in September to cut 300,000 troops, these reforms are indeed unprecedented.
The obvious question here is why China is reforming its military in such a drastic way. Although there are many possible explanations, one explanation is particularly simple and powerful: China’s existing military organization is not effective enough to defend its national interests in a rapidly changing world.
Read the full story at The Diplomat