The PLA at Home and Abroad - Strategic Studies Institute - U.S. Army

in Wenchuan County in the western part of Sichuan
province.
The government’s response to the earthquake,
which included mobilization of units from all of China’s
seven military regions and the Second Artillery,
drew praise not only within China, but also from the
international media. According to reports at the time,
by 5:00 p.m. 50,000 PLA troops had been mobilized
for earthquake relief, of which 20,000 had arrived in
the area affected. 28 As the rescue and relief operation
continued, the PLA, the PAP, and the Chinese media
continued to pile up and report impressive statistics:
133,000 PLA and PAP officers and soldiers and 45,000
militia and reserve personnel mobilized as of May 28;
1.6 million pieces/sets of clothing and 32,000 tons of
fuel distributed by May 31. 29 Since it was perceived as
a success, the earthquake relief effort had tremendous
propaganda value. It could be used both to demonstrate
the superiority of China’s socialist system and
economic reform program to the Chinese people at
large and to drive home to the PLA the importance of
obeying the Party and understanding the significance
of being prepared to accomplish not only traditional
defense missions, but also “diverse military tasks.” 30
Coverage of the earthquake relief effort thus focused
almost exclusively on the roles of the PLA and the
PAP, with little attention being paid to civil society
support or to international aid. 31
The overwhelmingly favorable spin put on the
military’s contributions to disaster relief and humanitarian
aid in response to the earthquake has led participants
and observers to draw a number of positive
lessons from the armed forces’ response to the earthquake.
32 Commentators are particularly proud of the
speed of the response. Sichuan provincial military
246