Editor's Foreword

378 THE MILITARY BALANCE 2010
with improved pay and benefits. The size of the NCO
force will be modestly expanded to ���,��� slots
in both the PLA and paramilitary People’s Armed
Police.
The PLA’s training regime is being overhauled to
make it more modern and robust, and more tailored
to changing missions. A new PLA-wide training and
evaluation programme was initiated at the beginning
of ���� that emphasises joint operations and the
conduct of a more diverse range of duties beyond
training for traditional war-fighting contingencies.
Entrenched compartmentalisation among the service
arms has hindered the PLA’s efforts to fashion a truly
integrated force, and this concerted effort to promote
joint training is intended to break this logjam.
The Stride ���� series of large-scale, inter-theatre
exercises held between August and September ����
exemplified the revamped training system and
offered a more realistic appraisal of the PLA’s combat
readiness than the anniversary parades. Stride ����
involved the first-ever long-distance deployment of
four army divisions of more than ��,��� troops and
��,��� pieces of heavy equipment drawn from the
Shenyang, Lanzhou, Jinan and Guangzhou Military
Regions to different parts of the country. The air
force and ground forces reportedly worked closely
together through joint command and operational
mechanisms, especially in airlifting large numbers of
troops and equipment over several thousand kilometres
and coordinating air-strikes to support ground
a�acks. One problem is that the PLA rarely trains
with foreign counterparts, the only exception being
limited exercises with Russia once every two years.
New security challenges
Since ����, preparing for ‘diversified missions’ has
become an operational and training priority. This
term is used by the PLA to refer to expanded nontraditional
security responsibilities such as helping to
safeguard the country’s increasingly global economic
and energy interests, adopting more proactive antiterrorist
and anti-separatist strategies, and participating
in long-range multilateral anti-piracy escort
duties. It also includes non-military missions such
as domestic and international disaster and humanitarian
relief, and dealing with infectious diseases.
Since ����, China’s President and Central Military
Commission Chairman Hu Jintao has championed
the idea that the PLA should undertake an everexpanding
portfolio of new missions under the official
moniker of the ‘historic missions of the PLA in
the new period of the new century’. However, this
policy initiative did not gain operational traction
until a series of natural disasters struck China in ����,
including a massive earthquake in Sichuan. The PLA
was caught unprepared and lacked the expertise and
capabilities to respond effectively to these challenges
(see The Military Balance ����, p. ���).
The PLA has also been drafting detailed rules of
engagement on the conduct of anti-terrorist military
operations within and outside China. This will
draw upon lessons learnt from the PLA’s participation
in Peace Mission ����, the third joint military
exercise conducted with Russia under the framework
of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
PLA Chief of General Staff General Chen Bingde
said during the exercises that China would consider
deploying troops for counter-terrorist operations in
Central Asia, under the SCO, if asked to do so. With
serious ethnic unrest in Xinjiang in northwest China
in the summer of ����, domestic security issues have
risen the top of the Chinese leadership’s priorities.
The PLAN has also taken on an important new
task though its participation in multinational antipiracy
operations off the coast of Somalia. This is the
first time that the PLAN has conducted such operations
in its ��-year history. A three-ship task force has
been deployed on rotation in the Indian Ocean since
the end of ���� and Chinese navy chiefs say they
are prepared to carry out this duty for an extended
period. Although the Somali escort mission was an
unexpected opportunity, this type of long-distance
and long-endurance deployment fits squarely into the
PLAN’s new strategic focus to protect Chinese interests
beyond its traditional territorial boundaries, with
new priorities to include ‘maritime rights and development
interests’. This alludes to the PLAN’s role in
supporting China’s efforts to gain secure global access
to energy, commodity and export markets.
The challenge for PLAN chiefs is to meet these
new mission requirements while also developing the
training and infrastructure necessary for missions of
sustained duration and, at the same time, continuing
to strengthen naval capabilities to secure territorial
waters and build up an effective anti-access capacity
towards the US. Strategic rivalry between the US and
Chinese navies has been quietly intensifying in the
past few years and was highlighted by a confrontation
between a US naval survey ship, the USNS Impeccable,
and Chinese government and fishing vessels off
Hainan Island in March ����. China accused the US
ship of intruding into its exclusive economic waters,