By Kou Liyan
China’s armed forces conducted frequent military drills in 2013.
Incomplete statistics show the headquarters, military zones and troops of the army and the armed police organized almost 40 drills and exercises. Live-fire drills were highlighted along with joint operations, system operations and combat exercises.
Some long-distance motorized drills involving large military zones, the air force and the navy drew extensive attention from home and abroad. People have speculated on what is behind these military drills, what they are targeting, what goal the Chinese military wants to achieve, and the direction of China’s military strategy.
In fact, Chinese military exercises are becoming increasingly transparent and no unfathomable conspiracy lies behind them. If you look at the strategic situation China’s military is facing and its stage of development, these are normal activities.
New Threats
Military drills during peacetime do reflect a trend in military strategy, while strategic trends originate from the real situation. The situation China faces now is very different from the past. More real threats and challenges require Chinese forces to enhance their response capabilities through military exercises.
First, the financial crisis that began in the U.S. and Europe continues to spread and resonate with existing political, economic and social conflicts in other countries, resulting in a series of security problems. It has changed the balance of power among major countries and dealt a blow to social stability in small and medium-sized countries. Discontent, anger and a sense of apprehension are more common than before. Different countries take different approaches to this issue. Big powers adjust their military strategies and deployments. Small and medium-sized countries strengthen their security forces. Conflicts and clashes over sovereignty, security, economic interests and historic hostility become more common.
Secondly, a new security situation is emerging in the neighborhood of China, or the Asia-Pacific region. The U.S. strategic rebalancing, rising nationalist sentiment in Japan, increasing chaos in Afghanistan and Pakistan due to the upcoming withdrawal of U.S. forces, the stalled Korean Peninsula denuclearization process as well as the suspension of trust and security construction – all these are part of a chain of disputed interests from the East China Sea to the South China Sea. Many countries in south and southeast Asia face election struggles and challenges from local forces and factions to authority, which may lead to new unrest.
The new threats of terrorism, separatism, extremist ideology, transnational crime and natural disasters have emerged in recent years. The transformation of economic and social development, environmental resource pressures, the inadvertent magnification of media coverage of negative social psychology and violence imitation contribute to a new security situation.
These new situations and threats, from global strategies to other aspects of social life, have set higher requirements of China’s armed forces. The ability of Chinese forces to meet the challenges often relies on military exercises.
New Generation
High frequency, high intensity and new types of exercises are a result of structural changes to personnel and equipment of China’s forces. Exercises are essential in enabling the Chinese army to improve combat capacity.
China has been pursuing long-term peace and a defensive national defense policy. It has been involved in no wars for decades. There are few commanders with real combat experience in the army headquarters or at grassroots level. Although emergency operations, including disaster relief and counter-terrorism efforts, can also hone military leadership, an organized offense-defense confrontation with a professional army can only be learned from a combat environment. It surely can only be achieved through military exercises during peacetime.
Many younger personnel were born into one-child families and grew up in favorable conditions with the country’s reform and opening up. Many people are better off than their predecessors in knowledge and educational levels, but their attitudes are more oriented to the market rather than to the traditional focus of country and people. This, of course, can be corrected through innovative political and ideological work, but military exercises that are close to the actual combat environment and reflect the soldiers’ responsibilities are essential for building the spirit of the army.
The overall upgrade of equipment synchronizes with the structural changes of the military personnel. The equipment level of the Chinese army has historically lagged behind that of other nations and technological disparities between China and the major world powers remain. In the process to catch up, the forces have continued to procure new weapons, command and control systems, and logistical equipment. At unit level, personnel need time to learn to use the equipment and put it into effect. At the system level, coordinating the use of new equipment is still a major issue. To resolve these problems, they also need to practice in exercises.
New Capabilities
Facing the new security environment, a modern military must be able to handle different tasks and adjust combat styles and tactics to different conditions. Some of the content might be familiar to developed countries, but the Chinese military is still catching up and must “make up the missed lessons”.
In the past the Chinese equipment, logistics supply capabilities and remote command and control systems could not support large-scale remote mobile operations.
China is a vast country. There are many potential security challenges from the land and the sea. Frequent emergency situations, rapid development of highway passages and the marine economy also require long-range deployment and maneuverability to guarantee security. As the hardware and support gradually improves, as in the aerospace field, China’s armed forces need more remote mobile exercises. This is a kind of "system test" and it matches the normal Chinese security and development needs at the moment. It is never too much.
Take joint operations under digital conditions for example. China’s military lacks the experience and capabilities to unify various services as a system. As the military widely uses modern reconnaissance, communications, navigation, guidance and other electronic products, the coordination of forces and effective completion of operations is a more prominent issue.
New capabilities need a new approach. From the command system and mechanism to the application of equipment; from the combat target changes to adaptation of the battlefield environment; from the maintenance of weapons to psychological counseling for personnel; from strong logistics support to the coordination of military and civil forces – all new ideas must be tested in the field. New capabilities can be fostered and new approaches can be tested only in exercises.
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