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1 [1] (January 5, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/goveadt0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service Inforrning the legislative debate since 1914 0 January 5, 2021 China's Military: The People's Liberation Army (PLA) Overview The two-million-strong People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military arm of the People's Republic of China's (PRC's) ruling Communist Party. The Trump Administration identified strategic competition with China and Russia as the primary concern in U.S. national security in 2018, and U.S. defense officials have since said that China is the U.S. Department of Defense's (DOD's) top priority. According to a 2020 DOD report, the PLA has already achieved parity with-or even exceeded-the United States in several areas in which it has focused its military modernization efforts and is strengthening its ability to counter an intervention by an adversary in the Indo-Pacific region and project power globally. See also CRS In Focus IF11712, U.S.-China Military-to-Military Relations. PLA Organization Established in 1927, the PLA predates the founding of the PRC in 1949. The Chinese Communist Party oversees the PLA through the Party's Central Military Commission, China's top military decisionmaking body, which is akin to the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Central Military Commission also oversees China's militia and China's paramilitary police force, the People's Armed Police, which includes the China Coast Guard. Xi Jinping, who serves concurrently as Communist Party general secretary and PRC president, has chaired the Central Military Commission since 2012. The PLA encompasses four services: the PLA Army, PLA Navy, PLA Air Force, and PLA Rocket Force, as well as two sub-service forces, the Strategic Support Force and the Joint Logistics Support Force. China's Military Strategy The stated goal of China's national defense policy is to safeguard the country's sovereignty, security, and development interests. The concept of active defense- the defining characteristic of China's military strategy since 1949-prescribes how China can defend these interests and prevail over a militarily superior adversary. Chinese defense writings summarize the general stance of this strategy as we will not attack unless we are attacked, but we will surely counterattack if we are attacked, although the strategy does not preclude the use of offensive operations or tactics. Since 2014, China's national military strategy (known as the military strategic guideline) has been to win informatized local wars, reflecting the PRC's growing emphasis on what it calls informatization: the application of advanced information technology across all aspects of warfare. Military strategic guidelines have identified Taiwan (a self-ruled democracy over which the PRC claims sovereignty) as the operational target of military preparations since 1993. China's defense planners anticipate that a military confrontation over Taiwan could involve powerful enemy interference, an apparent reference to the United States. China also has sought military capabilities to dominate its maritime periphery and to support foreign policy and economic initiatives globally. PLA Modernization and Key Capabilities Since 1978, China has engaged in a sustained and broad effort to transform the PLA from an infantry-heavy, low- technology, ground forces-centric force into a leaner, more networked, high-technology force with an emphasis on joint operations and power projection. In 2015 and 2016, Xi publicly launched the most ambitious reform and reorganization of the PLA since the 1950s. The reforms have two overarching objectives: reshaping and improving the PLA's command and control structure to enable joint operations among the services and ensuring the PLA is loyal and responsive to the Party and Xi. Although the reforms were originally slated to conclude by 2020, officials have more recently suggested they will be ongoing through 2021-2022. Institutionalizing the reforms' sweeping changes will likely take even longer. In 2017, Xi set goals for the PLA to generally achieve mechanization by 2020, to basically complete military modernization by 2035, and to transform the PLA into a world-class force by 2049-the same year by which Xi envisions China achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. According to Xi, To achieve the great revival of the Chinese nation, we must ensure there is unison between a prosperous country and strong military. The PLA is expanding its operational reach, strengthening its ability to conduct joint operations, and fielding increasingly modern weapons systems. Key features of PLA modernization include PLA Navy: An approximately 350-ship navy that includes advanced platforms such as submarines, aircraft carriers, and large multi-mission surface vessels, giving China blue-water capabilities and the ability to conduct sustained operations and project power increasingly far from China's periphery; * PLA Air Force: An air force increasingly capable of conducting joint and over-water missions, featuring deployments of large numbers of fourth-generation fighters, and fifth-generation fighters becoming operational or in late stages of development; igross.gov