China to cut the size of its military by 1/3 over next ten years?

[Nomenclature]

Can't find any report in English. Here's the Chinese link.

?????????? ?????????150??_????_???

Basically Xu Guangyu, a retired general, well-known military commentator and current board member of China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, claimed in a recent interview with Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post that Chinese military will focus on recruiting better educated and more professional personnel and cut the number of servicemen/servicewomen to 1.5 million by 2020 from the current 2.3 million.

Keep in mind Xu is no longer in active service with the PLA, so the 1.5 figure is not official yet. But a leaner, better trained and better equipped military makes a lot of sense.

 

[Akasa]

This further proves the point that the PLA is oriented towards defense instead of offense, aiming for a high-tech army.

You never decrease the size of your military if your overall goal is expansion.

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

Reducing the number of infantry, while increasing more gadgets in the Air Force and the Navy.

 

[BigTree.CN]

Well, no one is gonna praise China for doing that.

I wonder how would people respond if China is expanding PLA?

 

[SR 71 Blackbird]

Can't find any report in English. Here's the Chinese link.

?????????? ?????????150??_????_???

Basically Xu Guangyu, a retired general, well-known military commentator and current board member of China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, claimed in a recent interview with Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post that Chinese military will focus on recruiting better educated and more professional personnel and cut the number of servicemen/servicewomen to 1.5 million by 2020 from the current 2.3 million.

Keep in mind Xu is no longer in active service with the PLA, so the 1.5 figure is not official yet. But a leaner, better trained and better equipped military makes a lot of sense.

1.5 million-1.6million is more than enough.

 

[LEGENDARY WARRIOR]

Can't find any report in English. Here's the Chinese link.

?????????? ?????????150??_????_???

Basically Xu Guangyu, a retired general, well-known military commentator and current board member of China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, claimed in a recent interview with Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post that Chinese military will focus on recruiting better educated and more professional personnel and cut the number of servicemen/servicewomen to 1.5 million by 2020 from the current 2.3 million.

Keep in mind Xu is no longer in active service with the PLA, so the 1.5 figure is not official yet. But a leaner, better trained and better equipped military makes a lot of sense.

I think PLA can focus on reducing army but keep the navy and air force. . .

 

[cross1993]

I think 1.3 million is the appropriate number, then we are not the 1st in the world.

 

[rcrmj]

efficienct is very important, as long as PLA is efficient in dealing with their duties why not to reduce the personal so the extra money can be devoted into new kits and systems`

 

[S10]

Reducing the number of infantry, while increasing more gadgets in the Air Force and the Navy.

Absolutely not. The current number of combat troops are already stretched thin. It's the military bureaucracy that needs to be trimmed. China borders India, Vietnam and Russia, all of them with large number of ground troops. In addition, any unification wars with Taiwan will require hundreds of thousands of troops. The idea of slashing infantry is ridiculous considering the need.

 

[below_freezing]

Absolutely not. The current number of combat troops are already stretched thin. It's the military bureaucracy that needs to be trimmed. China borders India, Vietnam and Russia, all of them with large number of ground troops. In addition, any unification wars with Taiwan will require hundreds of thousands of troops. The idea of slashing infantry is ridiculous considering the need.

Agreed. Kick the corrupt fats at the top. 1 corrupt fat steals the money of 10000 infantry. Our infantry are the best in the world, able to win wars with nothing but a machine gun and a sack of rice. Cutting down on your strength is ludicrous. Our top leadership is great too. Its the scum in the middle that need to be kicked.

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

I think 2 million active soldiers for the ground force is enough.

In the near future, we also need about 500k personnel for both air force and navy.

The rest is all for the second artillery troops and so on.

 

[no_name]

There are lots of reserves and APA fill-ins in china to not worry too much for 5-10 years. After everything is sufficiently modernised they can steadly increase troop strength back.

 

[Huan]

Hopefully in the future, they can increase the army size back to 2.5 or 3 million as a better trained, better equipped army. Since China will have over 1.4 billion people by that time, why not maintain or increase the proportion of the population in the military?

 

[Obambam]

Agreed. Kick the corrupt fats at the top. 1 corrupt fat steals the money of 10000 infantry. Our infantry are the best in the world, able to win wars with nothing but a machine gun and a sack of rice. Cutting down on your strength is ludicrous. Our top leadership is great too. Its the scum in the middle that need to be kicked.

I can't agree with you more bro. Greedy scums needs to be removed for the sake of our country and its service men. Plus with a country the size of China, we need the numbers to ensure that every inch of our land is secured.

 

[Khalistan Patriot]

1.5 million-1.6million is more than enough.

if you hand any common sense, you'd realize the downsizing of china's military is due to its technological advancements. thus the need for military personnel decreases.