Beijing, Jan 28: China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the world’s largest army, has published an officially approved outline for military training as part of its efforts to emerge as a world-class force. The Central Military Commission headed by President Xi Jinping has approved the outline for military training.
Since he took over power in 2013 emerging as China’s most powerful leader in recent decades, 64-year-old Xi has been firmly advocating live fire drills in real-time war conditions to enhance the 2.3-million strong military to win wars.
As a result, the PLA army, navy and air force have been carrying out massive exercises in Tibet as well as the disputed South China Sea and areas close to Taiwan.
Xi also carried out massive reform of PLA’s command structure and ordered three lakh troops cut as part of efforts to revamp the military which has an annual budget of over USD 140 billion, next only to that of US military.
Also over 40 top military officials including two former Vice Chief of the CMC were punished in the massive anti-graft campaign ordered by Xi, the largest purge since the era of Mao Zedong, founder of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC).
Xi also heads the party as general-secretary of the CPC, and the military besides the presidency. Centring on building a strong army in the new era and building it into a world-class force, the new training outline focuses on the PLA’s combat capability, highlighting military training under combat conditions and joint training.
PTI
