15 April 2020, NIICE Commentary 4096
Nichole Ballawar
The Chinese are aware of the fact that Napoleon Bonaparte once resounded “God fights on the side of the best artillery”. China’s recapture of the world by economic means is a well-established fact, but the school of structural realism sketches a broader picture of China’s growing military muscle. Many in the academic circles argue that China will convert her economic might into military might. This transition of the Chinese’s distance to frontier has an explanation which is anachronistic in nature.
Today, China’s presence is felt all over the world which has got the wind of political observers and analysts around the globe. They have been mostly engaged in discussing the role of this emperor like state in international politics and the achieved status (a sociological term) in the comity of nations. China has the largest population in the world with the fourth largest territory. Its GNP per capital is second largest with a growth rate of 6.6 percent.
Proud Civilization
China, being the oldest civilization mostly remained isolated from the rest of the world and claimed to be self-sufficient in every respect. The political system of China has been dominated by an emperor, who according to Chinese ruled with “a mandate of heaven”. It, therefore, conducted their international relations with the Ministry of Rites until 1911. This seems to be unusual to the Westerners. Chinese considered themselves as superior and foreigners as barbarians and in return foreigners considered Chinese to be an enigma.
Western civilization began to spread its tentacles and China was forced to become a part of the Western civilization. After the Opium War of 1840, the Britishers used the so-called gunboat diplomacy to get Chinese to open their ports for trade. China had been economically plundered by Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Japan in different ways. A considerable part of Chinese resources was under the control of imperialists. It was a grave concern for the patriotic Chinese and they perceived it as a humiliation to the entire nation which was considered proud. Therefore, according to Chinese’s discourses, Chinese people faced humiliation because of their military backwardness and they realised having a powerful military was an integral part of any states. China has recently been implementing a strategy of comprehensive military transformation to aid its leadership ambitions and enhance the outreach of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Origin and Modernisation of PLA
PLA was formed in the year 1927 by Zhu De and Mao Zedong. In the early years, it was the Eighth Route Army and then the New Fourth Army. The New Fourth Army was later renamed as PLA, after the Japanese attacked China in 1937. The military doctrine at that time was known as People’s War under which guerrilla tactics were used as a strategy to tackle animosity. Apart from People’s War, another principle was adopted, “Party Commands the Gun”, which effectively means the civilian control over the military. During Mao era, in the doctrine of People’s War, a large army was perceived as an asset, but after Mao’s demise, the Communist Party of China (CPC) decided to modernise its military as a part of Four Modernisations Policy, because they believed military demobilisation is very important in the view of the fact that a large army is a liability. Additionally, this was also because the state needed lot of resources for upkeeping of the soldiers. Den Xiaoping in 1975 criticized PLA of “bloating, laxity, conceit, extravagance and inertia and that this over-expanded and inefficient army is not combat-worthy”. Therefore, troop reduction and military modernisation had become an important complexion of that time.
In the last few decades, China has initiated a concerted military modernisation programme. The “structural reorganisation” plan has relatively succeeded in putting the rank and file of the PLA on the road to “lean and mean” armed forces. Hardware and software modernisations and double digit increase in defence budget allocations, in last two decades, have made China a dominant force in Asia. By 1999, the PLA was making a turnaround from a large infantry-based armed force to that of a gradually acquiring the potential to project power abroad. This was a part of the China’s strategy: a transition from mechanisation to information-based warfare.
The progression in the PLA is clearly visible. In January 2007, China conducted an anti-satellite test by destroying its Fengyun satellites located about 860 km in orbit. In 2010, same month, China conducted an inceptor missile test successfully. Similarly, multirole aircraft, conventional submarines modernised warplanes were in the slideshow. In the White Paper of 2006, PLA indicated that China would deter regional conflicts from breaking up and would manage conflict in short to medium term. In 2009, during fleet review, Chinese underlined the global task and during October 2009, Beijing parade has shown a massive sabre-rattling of ICBMs, cruise missiles, Marine Corps, Airborne early warning and Control (AEWC) systems etc.
In 2013, a famous oceanographic research vessel in China was sailing through the Indian Ocean for 2-3 months. Reportedly, it was monitoring the hydrological conditions on the ocean. Expert suggests that such high level of mobility in the Indian Ocean for months is for the research of the anti-submarine warfare, the weapons a state possess, and to track the submarines of the adversary. China is largely looking forward to modernising its military by introducing “system of systems” for a holistic refurbishment of the forces. The White Paper on National Defence published in December 2006 outlined a map of such modernisation plan which entailed the progression from laying foundation by 2010 to the major progress made till 2020 and towards informationalising the armed forces capable of winning wars by the mid-21st century. The paper also reiterated the “foundation“ and “driving force” of PLA’s modernisation. All the measures above are a part of Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) which includes information warfare, electronic warfare, command, control etc. It is a paradigm shift from traditional focus to five dimensions (land, sea, space and electromagnetic spectrums) from quantitative to qualitative technology. RMA has a massive impact on theatre commands, quality Rapid Response Force (RRF), command and control, and logistics.
In 2019, Xi Jinping’s vision of restoring China to greatness—what he defines as the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”—is building a more modern, capable, and disciplined military. In Xi’s words, a “nation’s backwardness in military affairs has a profound influence on a nation’s security. I often peruse the annals of modern Chinese history and feel heartbroken at the tragic scenes of us being beaten because of our ineptitude.” Such humiliations, in his view, should never be repeated.
Conclusion
The above measures outlines the success in PLA modernisation, which involves streamlining the force structures, raising the elite troops, restructuring of command and control mechanism, restorations of the rank system and grades, emphasis on professional military education, revamping curriculum and upgrading the defence technologies. The PLA has intensified the training programme through the introduction of stimulators and other reform measures. While the results of such experiments are not yet clear, what is significant is that the PLA today intends to graduate to fighting 21st century wars. These trends need to be watched carefully in the near future. Several factors have influenced such modernising efforts like changes in the nature of warfare, technology, ability to divert budgetary and human resources, political leadership’s choices and outlook. Xi Jingping in the 19th Party Congress in 2017, said that “China will become a major world power with pioneering influence” by 2047” explains the aspirations of this rising power in global statue. China definitely is a machismo state in today’s era. The modernisation is a part of ‘The China Dream’ of making the nation great. It has been echoed by many leaders and instilled within the Chinese people.
