PLA Expanding Units For Combat Even As It Cuts 300,000 Jobs

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is pivoting to confront changing challenges – and that means more combat personnel, according to one commentator, Minnie Chan reported for the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Photo Insert: Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning

China has expanded its combat forces to adapt to changing risks – despite a years-long push to streamline the PLA, according to a Communist Party publication published in mid-November by the People’s Publishing House.

Military commentator Zhong Xin said the PLA had been “optimizing” its personnel structure by deploying more troops to combat roles while cutting 300,000 positions.

The book focuses on President Xi Jinping’s reforms over the last decade. Zhong said the military now had about 2 million personnel, down from a peak of more than 6 million in the midst of the Korean War in the 1950s.

PLA’s streamlining came as the US has added a dozen firms to its export blacklist on the basis of national security concerns, thus denying China access to high technology products and services.

With the US controlling the production of chips, China would have to scrounge for facilities that could manufacture the microchips needed by radar systems, submarines, warplanes, drones, and weapons systems.

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