The last time the PLA was in a military conflict against a foreign power they lost to Vietnam.
“The last time the PLA was in a military conflict against a foreign power they lost to Vietnam.”
I once read an interesting piece that suggested that Deng Xiaoping — then Chinese premier — was being pushed by the Maoists in the PLA to invade Vietnam in retribution for their invasion of Cambodia — a close ally. The article suggested that Deng was pretty sure the PLA would fall on its face and that would give him the excuse to remove some of the more senior generals that were standing in the way of force modernization. Of course it could also be an ex-post facto face-saving excuse for a major fuster-cluck. You decide.