ANNUAL REPORT

207
• PLA Army Headquarters: China established a separate PLA
Army service headquarters for the ground forces at the end of
2015. 94 Prior to establishing an army headquarters, leadership
for the ground force was integrated into the PLA’s four general
departments. 95 Now, the army for the first time is aligned with
the other services and will have the same responsibilities for
managing and equipping the force—tasks for which the four
general departments were previously responsible. 96
• PLA Rocket Force: China’s elevation of the PLA Rocket Force
at the end of 2015 from an independent branch to a full service
puts the Rocket Force on equal footing with the PLA Navy, Air
Force, and Army concerning force modernization. 97 The Rocket
Force has retained the responsibility for land-based nuclear
missiles and conventional missiles and is charged with enhancing
China’s nuclear deterrence and counternuclear strike capability,
strengthening medium- and long-range precision strike,
and building a powerful modernized rocket force. 98
• PLA Strategic Support Force: China created a new force
under the Central Military Commission called the Strategic
Support Force to oversee space and cyber capabilities. 99 While
much remains unknown about the full range of missions the
Strategic Support Force will conduct, the departments that resided
under the General Staff Department prior to reform that
appear to have been transferred to this force include elements
from the First Department (operations), Second Department
(intelligence), Third Department (technical reconnaissance),
and Fourth Department (radars and electronic countermeasures).
100 This composition at a minimum would suggest
the Strategic Support Force is charged with cyber, space, reconnaissance,
and electronic warfare missions supporting joint
integrated operations. Furthermore, the Strategic Support
Force may play a role in the conduct of both information and
legal warfare, though it is too early to determine whether and
how these warfare areas will be addressed by the force. 101
China’s 2016 Defense and Security Budget
In March 2016, China announced a 2016 military budget of
$146.67 billion (renminbi 954.35 billion), an increase of 7.6 percent
over its announced budget for 2015, but the lowest rate of growth
in six years. 102 This figure represents 11 percent of China’s total
central government outlays budgeted for 2016 * and approximately
1.3 percent of projected gross domestic product (GDP). 103 Observers
offer varying estimates of China’s defense budget, having long
noted the impossibility of accepting China’s official figures at face
value for numerous reasons (including Beijing’s provision of only
top-line numbers and its omission of major defense-related expendi-
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* China’s central government general public budget includes ‘‘central government expenditures,
tax rebates for local governments, general transfer payments to local governments, special
transfer payments to local governments, and payments to central government reserve funds.’’
If only the central government expenditures category is counted, China’s 2016 defense budget
represents 35 percent of projected central government spending. National People’s Congress of
the People’s Republic of China, Full Text: Report on China’s Central, Local Budgets (2016),
March 23, 2016.
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