The People's Republic of China has the largest military army in the world. It is an important economic and political factor. The Table Media editorial team provides the most important news about China's armed forces.
China has 2.3 million soldiers, making it the largest military army in the world. The People's Republic of China also has a compulsory military service. This lasts for two years, anyone who turns 18 by December 31 of any year must serve. In theory, this applies to 13 million men every year. In practice, young people are therefore unlikely to be conscripted. There is an exception for students. Both men and women in China are required to serve in the People's Liberation Army. Either as military training before graduation or within a year of graduation. Because every student has done military service in some way, and a degree is usually a prerequisite for a political career, politics has a strong proximity to the military.
To showcase its military clout, China regularly holds military parades and exercises. Most notable is the military parade held in 2019, the year the People's Republic celebrated its 70th anniversary. On this occasion, the army attached great importance to presenting the latest developments. China was thus able to prove the high technological level of its own armed forces. A total of 15,000 soldiers, about 160 aircraft and 550 tanks and missiles were deployed by the rulers. The People's Liberation Army has an enormous amount of equipment. In addition to its 2.3 million soldiers, China says it has 6,300 tanks. In addition, there are 350 warships, 49 aircraft carriers and 50 submarines.
Crucial to the Chinese army's equipment is that the sheer quantity of soldiers has been regularly reduced since the 1990s. Exact numbers, however, are unknown. It was not until the 2019 White Paper that the government announced that the People's Liberation Army would be reduced by 300,000 to two million personnel. At the same time, however, spending is to be increased in order to push ahead with the planned modernization of equipment. In doing so, the People's Liberation Army - like the entire economy in general - is relying primarily on domestic production. The completely modernized submarine fleet was manufactured entirely in China. However, the People's Republic's military still relies on imports, especially for modern engines.
The Chinese Air Force enjoys great prestige in the People's Republic. Some 250,000 soldiers of the People's Liberation Army serve here. They have 2,500 aircraft in military service. 2,000 possess combat systems, 1,624 of which are fighter jets. The Chinese military has been able to greatly modernize and expand its air force in a comparatively short time. The fighter jets are augmented by a strategic bomber fleet. In addition, there is a large number of different drones. These range from reconnaissance and transport drones to combat drones equipped with weapons.
Such an army costs money, of course. However, the figures differ here. Officially, China had about $174 billion in military spending in 2019. As in many countries, however, not every item in the People's Republic can be clearly allocated. Many expenditures have been hidden in non-military items, experts suspect. They estimate China's military budget in 2019 at $261 billion. However high China's military spending may be in reality, at the beginning of 2021 the People's Congress decided to increase the budget. Spending is to be increased by 6.8 percent. Last year, at the height of the Corona crisis, spending had already been increased by 6.6 percent.
China has the largest army in the world, but ranks only second in military spending. The U.S. spends 732 billion euros annually, about three times as much. But China is pursuing the goal of being a superpower in 2049. From a global perspective, the People's Republic would like to play the same role that America already has. President Xi Jinping is concerned with modernizing the armed forces. The Chinese army is to play a global role and be deployed wherever a military presence is needed. Accordingly, the two countries are clearly meeting at the political level. Shortly after his inauguration in 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden had warships patrol the Taiwan Strait. The strait, also known as the Formosa Strait, lies between China and Taiwan. Chinese fighter jets had previously violated Taiwan's air sovereignty there.
The USA, however, has invested the vast sums mentioned above in a completely different way. While China has around 2.3 million people serving in its armed forces, the USA has only 1.3 million. The U.S. army is considered the most modern and mobile armed force in the world and thus serves as a model for the People's Liberation Army to some extent. Although the U.S. has 5,200 fighter and combat aircraft, almost twice as many as China, the number of tanks is identical at 6,300. The People's Republic of China maintains twice as many aircraft carriers.
The Taiwan conflict has occupied China and Taiwan militarily since the 1950s. On one side is the People's Republic of China. On the other side is the Republic of China, also known as Taiwan. From China's perspective, Taiwan is part of the People's Republic. Taiwan insists on its status as an independent country. The People's Republic's One China policy led many countries to break off relations with Taiwan. Politically, the island state is largely isolated. Because of the constant threat from its neighbor, however, Taiwan maintains a comparatively large military. The Taiwanese army has 290,000 soldiers and 1.7 million reservists. With a population of only 23 million people. Due to political isolation, however, the equipment is considered outdated. Taiwan has four submarines. Two of them date back to World War II.
Hongkong has a special status. The Special Administrative Zone is located on the southern coast of China and has been part of the People's Republic since 1997. Although state sovereignty was handed over, Hongkong was guaranteed a free market economy and internal autonomy under the principle of one country, two systems. Accordingly, Hongkong does not have its own army. Military tasks are performed by China's armed forces for the special administrative zone. When the People's Republic feared riots on the anniversary in 2019, around 12,000 soldiers were stationed in Hongkong. After the protests in Hongkong against the head of government there, Carrie Lam, Chinese soldiers also took over the cleanup.
Although the German government repeatedly condemns human rights violations in China, it does cooperate with the People's Republic on a military level. Chinese soldiers, for example, regularly take part in Bundeswehr training measures, as a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense explained. In 2020, eleven Chinese soldiers are said to have participated in superior training and logistics training. Germany also benefits from arms exports to China. According to the database of the British Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), Germany exported defense equipment worth 173 million euros to China between 2001 and 2018. Mainly chemical materials. Greenpeace also denounces the fact that engines for tanks and warships are being supplied to China despite the current EU arms embargo.
China has been a nuclear power since 1964. However, the People's Republic declared that it "will not be the first to use nuclear weapons at any time and under any circumstances." Accordingly, the country wants to keep its stockpile of nuclear weapons at the lowest possible level. Currently, that number is 260 warheads. By comparison, the U.S. has 7,260 warheads, while Russia has 7,500. There is also a paragraph on this in the People's Republic's current 2019 White Paper. China is committed to a complete ban on nuclear weapons and the destruction of existing warheads. For this reason, the country still does not want to participate in the nuclear arms race.
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