Didn't the Phillipines just recently legally surrender their claim to some Islands of theirs (the Paracels, and some of the Spratleys) that China seized under everyone's nose? And they seem to be tooling up for some more land-grabbing action...
China Restructures Its Military
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BEIJING
China is reforming its military by adding new battle units and eliminating outdated ones to increase its effectiveness in combat, state media reported July 13.
According to the Headquarters of the General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), a program is currently underway to cut the military’s divisions while increasing its brigades, the Xinhua news agency said.
The reform program, said the headquarters, will increase the number of land army corps.
The army corps will also have a three-level command system, namely corps, brigadier and battalion levels, which will mark the first time Chinese forces have adopted such a system, the report said, citing the Liberation Army Daily.
At the same time, the command levels of the air force and the navy will be reduced, said the paper, which gave no further details.
The total number of officers serving at headquarters or functional branches at different command levels will be cut to a new low and some grassroots posts previously held by officers will be handed over to skilled soldiers or non-service civil servants, according to the report.
Citing the reform as one of the most wide-ranging and extensive ones the country has ever witnessed, the PLA headquarters said it would intensify the combat command capability of Chinese troops.
The reform is expected to be completed before the end of 2005, it said.
The proportion of officers to soldiers in the Chinese military will also be increased, according to the report.
China has been trying to downsize its military in recent years -- reducing the number of soldiers but better training the ones remaining to increase the quality of its armed forces and prepare for what it sees as a new age of high-tech warfare that relies more on technology than manpower.
It is also ambitiously acquiring new weaponry.
Last month, the Washington Times said a highly classified report found U.S. intelligence agencies had failed to recognize more than a dozen key military developments in China in the past decade, including:
- The development of a new long-range cruise missile, and of a new warship equipped with a stolen Chinese version of the U.S. Aegis battle management technology.
- The deployment of a new attack submarine known as the Yuan class; of precision-guided munitions, including new air-to-ground missiles and new, more accurate warheads; of surface-to-surface missiles.
We may be seeing a 'New Asia' in the near future.