Zhang Shu chun lieutenant-colonel Chinese People's Liberation

The armed forces of the People's Republic of China

The armed forces of the People's Republic of Chi- the Headquarters of the General Staff, the General na consist of the Chinese People's Liberation Ar- Political Department, and the General Logistics my, the Chinese People's Armed Police Force and Department, responsible for directing ope- the . They make it their main task to build a rations, military training, political and ideological strong national defence system, fïght against fo- work, organizational affairs and logistics support. reign aggression, protect the people in their peace- ful work, take part in the construction in the coun- To meet the needs of its national defence, China is try and work hard to serve the people. divided into a certain number of strategie areas The field and regional forces make up the (greater military areas), in which all the stationary regular army: the Chinese People's Liberation Ar- troops of the land, sea and air forces and the militia my (PLA). The backbone of the armed forces, the are put under a unified command. The military is field armies, have the responsibility in time of war further divided territorially into military regions to carry out mobile operations to defend the nation and subregions, corresponding to the provincial as a whole. Fighting in coordination with the field and prefectural levels of government, which are re- armies and the militia in counter-attacking and wi- sponsible for commanding regional forces, militia ping out the invading enemy, regional forces have and reserves. the direct responsibility of protecting local areas. In addition there are separate headquarters respect- The militia is an armed organization of the people, ively in charge of the operations of the navy, air who are engaged in productive labour beside their force, and other troops. military responsibilities. While undertaking pro- duction in time of war it assumes the responsibility Organizational set-up of carrying out armed struggle in protecting the rear, giving support to the front and fighting as a The principal units of the PLA are army, division, reserve force ready to reinforce the field armies regiment, batallion and company. The land force and regional forces. has armies, infantry divisions, tank divi- sions, artillery divisions, engineering units, signal Leadership and command system units and anti-chemical warfare units. Each infan- try division has several infantry regiments, varying As stipulated by the Constitution, the Central Mili- numbers of tank and artillery units, as well as engi- tary Commission commands the armed forces of neering, signal, reconnaissance, anti-chemical war- the country, and the State Council of the people's fare, medical, transportation, mechanical repair and Republic of China has under it a Ministry of Na- supply units. tional Defence. The chief agencies of the PLA are: Army day Lkol Zhang is plaatsvervangend militair, mari- August Ist is the birthday of the PLA. On that date ne- en luchtmachtattaché van de Chinese am- bassade in Nederland. In 1969 trad hij toe tot de in 1927, an uprising at Nanchang in Jiangxi Pro- Chinese People's Liberation Army en deed vince marked the beginning of the Chinese Com- achtereenvolgens dienst als pelotonscomman- munist Party's independent leadership in armed dant, staf-officier en bataljonscommandant. struggles. >

MS162(1993)(3) 101 Helping industrial construction...

Army flag The Chinese People's Liberation Army The red background of the flag of the PLA symbo- After the victory over Japan in 1945, Chiang Kai- lizes the land, and the golden five-pointed star with shek, backed by the United States, tore to scraps its 'August Ist' on it means that through long hard peace agreements with the Communist Party, and struggles since August l, 1927, the PLA is like a launched an all-out offensive against the liberated shining star illuminating all of China. areas, held by the Communist Party at the end of June and early July of 1946, starting a full-scale na- Army emblem tional civil war. The residents and armed forces of A golden-edged five-pointed red star with the gol- the liberated areas had no alternative but to wage a den words 'August Ist' in the middle. national liberation war. With the change in their strategie task, the Eighth Route Army and the New The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army Fourth Army were renamed the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Following more than three years The PLA, founded on August l, 1927, was then of bitter struggle, the PLA liberated the whole called the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Ar- country except for Taiwan province and several my. By 1933 the number of soldiers in the Red Ar- other small islands. my had risen to 300.000. In October 1934, the Red On october l, 1949, the People's Republic of China Army was forced to leave the Central Base Area to was founded, and the task of the PLA, now the na- embark on a strategie shift and begin the world-fa- tional army, changed from that of taking the nation- mous Long March after failling to beatback the al power to that of consolidating the power, defend- fifth onslaught of the Kuomintang troops, and it fi- ing and building a socialist country, realizing the nally arrived in northern Shaanxi in October 1935 unification of the country and safeguarding world and October 1936. peace. To fulfil these tasks and duties, the PLA has worked hard to build itself into a regularized and Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army modernized revolutionary army. From its start as a single land force, it has developed into a combined On July 7, 1937, the War of Resistance Against Ja- army including the air force, navy, artillery, and pan broke out. The Red Army was reorganized re- other services armed, not only with conventional spectively into the Eighth Route Army and the New weaponry but also guided missiles, nuclear weap- Fourth Army. After that, the Eight Route Army and ons and missile carriers. the New Fourth Army threw themselves into the battle. Adhering to independent guerrilla warfare The Chinese People's Armed Police Force tactics, they set up many anti-Japanese areas with a population of over 100 million, engaging over 60 The Chinese People's Armed Police Force is a mer- percent of the total Japanese force in China and 95 ger of the former domestic security units of the percent of the puppet troops. The fighting forces in PLA and the armed police, fire fighters and border these base areas grew to some 1,2 million men who guards previously under the Ministry of Public Se- over a period of eight years played a decisive role curity. An armed force charged with keeping social in the final victory by wiping out some l ,71 million order and public security, the Armed Police Force Japanese aggressors and puppet soldiers. follows the regulations and rules of the Chinese Peo-

102 MS162(1993)(3) ple's Liberation Army and receives equal treatment Now there are militia organizations in all the grass- as the PLA. roots units in rural and urban areas. All citizens that Following the principle of division of labour, diffe- are between eighteen and thirty-five in age and con- rent units of the Armed Police Force have specifi- form to requirements for joining the army can be- cally prescribed functions and responsibilities such come members of militia organizations. There are as maintaining public order, guarding the frontiers, two kinds of membership in the militia, core mem- fire fighting. In time of war, it is duty bound to fight bers and ordinary members. Former soldiers who a war of national defence against foreign aggres- have returned to civilian life and people who have sion in cooperation with the Chinese People's Libe- gone through military training and those who have ration Army. been specially selected for military training can join the militia as core members to form the first- Militia class reserve force at the age of less than twenty- eight, while all others are ordinary members to China's militia grew in size during the long years form the second-class reserve force. When proven of revolutionary war. After the founding of the Peo- qualified, female citizens can also be selected to ple's Republic of China the militia system, regar- join the militia as core members. ded as an important part of the military system, was written into the Common programme of the Chi- Training officers and technicians nese People's Political Consultative Conference and the Constitution of the People's Republic of Chi- Building the army into a modernized revolutionary na. As a subsidiary force to the PLA and public secu- armed force demands a large group of well-educa- rity agencies, the militia has not only played an ac- ted officers and technical personnel. Officers are tive role in economie construction but also made educated at military institutes and schools and great contributions to safeguarding the frontiers, through in-service training. Special emphasis is maintaining public order and defending the coun- placed on training officers and technicians above try. With more and more advanced weaponry, the the platoon level. Now there are officer-training militia has developed into an armed force with academies as well as political, technical and med- many military and political capabilities. ical academies. Officer-training academies and

Rescuing the people trom f lood..

MS162(1993)(3) 103 Vegetable base of an army unit... schools are instituted at three levels, designed for and different magnitudes in order to increase its ca- training officers of high, medium and low ranks; pability for operations by combined army units and political academies and schools are set up at two for quick response and combat capability in using levels for training high- and medium-ranking and electronics as well as the capabilities for logistic grass-roots-level political officers; technical aca- support and preservation of its effective force in demies and schools offer college and secondary field operations under conditions of modern war. II- education to train high- and medium-level techni- lustrative of this is a large-scale military drill held cians while medical academies are also graded into in 1981, one of the largest since the founding of the institutes of higher learning and secondary profes- People's Republic of China, participated by com- sional schools. bined army units of the land force, the navy and airborne forces. Categories and content of military training The system of military service Military training differs in the land, sea and air force according to the different tasks that need to The constitution of the People's Republic of China be fulfilled by specific units of the three services. Ba- stipulates: sically, the troops are divided into two categories: It is the sacred obligation ofevery citizen of the People's 1. troops that receive military and political training Republic of China to defend the motherland and resist ag- the year round, and 2. troops that receive military gression. It is the honourable duty of citizens of the Peo- and political training for half of the time and are ple's Republic of China to perform military service and charged with other tasks the rest of the time. tojoin the militia in accordance with the law. All the armed forces must proceed from the needs of actual combat and combine fighting tasks with Since the Second session of the First National Peo- military training according to characteristics of tar- ple's Congress passed the Military Service Law of get, topography and climate. The army has stressed the People's Republic of China in July 1955, China tactical training in anti-tank, anti-air plane and anti- has had a policy of compulsory military service. airborne methods and protection against nuclear, Before that, China had a policy of volunteer milita- chemical and biological weapons. The army now ry service. pays attention to technical and specialized training In June 1984, a new Military Service Law was for soldiers in using the weapons and equipment in adopted by the Second session of the Sixth Natio- hand, to training in tactics for commanders, and to nal People's Congress, providing for a system of training in special wartime skills for those in opera- compulsory and volunteer military services com- tional headquarters. bined with compulsory military services in the In the last few years, the PLA has paid attention to main, and the policy of combining the militia with training centred on tactics for operations by com- a reserve service system. bined army units and training in different courses According to the new Military Service Law, all

104 MS162(1993)(3) male citizens of the People's Republic of China than twelve years, and their service will not extend who have reached the age of eighteen by December once they have reached the age of thirty-five. 31 and before they reach twenty-two have the obli- Local governments are to take good care of all de- gation to enlist in the army if they are called upon mobilized men who have been in compulsory ser- to do so, regardless of the nationality, race, occupa- vice. For those originally from rural areas local tion, family background, religious belief, or educa- governments see to it that their life and production tion. The state also drafts female youths for army are properly arranged and give priority to them for service according to its needs. During their service, local job enrollment with state organs, institutions, the state provides them with clothing, food and lod- people's organizations and enterprises. For those ging and a small monthly allowance. The govern- originally drafted from towns who had worked in ment gives preferencial treatment to families of ser- state organs, institutions and enterprises, they may vice men and women and guarantees that their liv- return to their former posts. Preferential choices are ing standard is not lower than that of the average fa- also made of demobilized examinees by educatio- mily in their locality. If those in the service should nal institutions of higher learning and secondary die at their post or die from illness, the government professional schools when they have proved them- provides comfort, compensation and favourable selves qualified to be enrolled. Likewise local go- treatment to their families. Those disabled at their vernments are also responsible for giving job as- post are provided for in the same way. signments for demobilized volunteer personnel. According to the new Military Service Law, the numbers of years to be served by draftees are: three Demobilized men can enlist in the reserve force years for the land force, and four years for the air when they meet the requirements. They may either force and the navy. After completing their term of be organized into the officers' or soldiers' reserve service, the conscripts can extend their service if force by their personal qualifications. Reserve for- there is a need and they themselves volunteer. The ces are organized to include not only the militia but period of extended service ranges from one to two also ex-servicemen and demobilized professional years for the land force, and one year for the navy technical personnel and other male citizens in insti- and air force. Those who have extended their com- tutions that do no have militia units. The officers' pulsory service for five years, and have acquired reserve force includes those officers who have technical expertise may continue their service in withdrawn from active service and enlisted in re- the army as volunteer service men or women if they serve force, demobilized soldiers registered as offi- themselves volunteer and leadership above the di- cers in reserve force, college graduates, militia offi- vision level approves. But the number of years ex- cers, and cadres and professional technical person- tended shall be no less than eight years or no more nel working in non-military departments.

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MS162(1993)(3) 105