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Military & Armed Forces

• China Military Online (English)

• China Military Online (Chinese)

  Chinese armed forces: People's Liberation Army (PLA), founded in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province on August 1st, 1927.
General Introduction of PLA and National Defence
Central Military Commission
PLA Daily
Chairman of Central Military Commission: Hu Jintao
Ministry of Defense
Total Army Members 2.3 million (2003 )
Budget of National Defense in 2000: 120.5 billion yuan RMB (about 14.5 billion US$) a 12.7% increase over the year of 1999) (Source: NPC news release, Mar. 2000)
General Information about PLA (www.china-military.org)
Budget of National Defense (Unit: billion yuan RMB/billion yuan US$, and the exchange rate between USD and RMB is about 1 :8.3)

Sources: White Paper on National Defense issued by Chinese Government and other government publications. 

People's Liberation Army (PLA): A Brief Introduction

Minister of National Defense: General CAO Gangchuan

Chief of the General Staff: General LIANG Guanglie

Chief of the General Political Department: General XU Caihou

Chief of General Logistics Department: General LIAO Xilong; Political Commissar: General ZHANG Wentai

Chief of General Armament Department: General LI Jinai; Political Commissar: CHI Wanchun

Air Force (470,000 airmen; 2,556 jet fighters; 400 ground attack jets.)
Commander: QIAO Qingchen
Political Commissar: DENG Changyou
Introduction and General Information
Chinese Military Aircrafts
Chinese Military Aviation
Air-borne Force

Publications about Chinese Air Force (from RAND):
China's Air Force Enters the 21st Century
China's Air Force: The Long March to Modernization

Ground Force (Army) (1.9 million men; 14,000 tanks; 14,500 artillery pieces & 453 helicopters)
Introduction and General Information
Ground Force Aviation

Navy (250,000 sailors; 63 submarines; 18 destroyers; 35 frigates)
Commander: General ZHANG Dingfa
Political Commissar: General HU Yanlin
Introduction and General Information
Marine Corps
Naval Aviation

Second Artillery Force (Stragetic Missile Force)
Commander: General JING Zhiyuan
Political Commissar: PENG Xiaofeng
Introduction and General Information

People's Armed Police
Commander: General WU Shuangzhan
Political Commissar: SUI Mingtai

Seven Military Commands (Regions) (Updated Sep. 19, 2004)

Beijing Military Command
Commander: General ZHU Qi
Political Commissar: General FU Yangui

Chengdu Military Command
Commander: General WANG Jianmin 
Political Commissar: General ZHANG Haiyang

Guangzhou Military Command
Commander: General LIU Zhenwu
Political Commissar: General YANG Deqing

Jinan Military Command
Commander: General FAN Changlong 
Political Commissar: General LIU Dongdong

Lanzhou Military Command
Commander: General LI Qianyuan
Political Commissar: General LIU Yongzhi

Nanjing Military Command
Commander: General ZHU Wenquan
Political Commissar: General LEI Mingqiu

Shenyang Military Command
Commander: General QIAN Guoliang
Political Commissar: General JIANG Futang

Military Education and Training

• Academy of Military Sciences
  President: GE Zhenfeng
  Political Commissar: WEN Zhongren
  

• University of National Defense
  President, PEI Huailiang; 
  Political Commissar: ZHAO Keming
  

• National University of Defense Technology
  President: WEN Xishen
  Political Commissar: Huang Xianzhong

National University of Defense Technology

Other Related Web Sites

China-Military.org

China Defence Forces: an unofficial page and it is the most comprehensive and extensive information site about Chinese defence, military weapons, militray built-up and articles.

Chinese Military Power - A compendium of online resources about CHinese military policy and capabilities

Chinese Air Force
China Military Pages
Chinese Military Digest
Chinese Security Pages

Military Publications and Publication Services
Facts and Figures

Disarmament: There are 9 Disarmament from the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the total number of troops disarmed in the period is 7 million:

The 1st disarmament: at the end of 1950, 17.1 per cent of the total number of 5.5 million PLA was disarmed, the major cut was carried out in ground force. (Later, due to the Korea War, the total number of PLA had been greatly expanded and reached the peak in the history of PLA, the total number of armed force was reached 6.11 million.)

The 2nd disarmament: January 1952, the total number of ground force was reduced from 2.58 million to 1.35 million. The total number of PLA was reduced to 3 million.

The 3rd disarmament: August 1953, the total number of PLA was cut 23.3 percent, and about 1/3 of the ground force was cut during the disarmament.

The 4th disarmament: January 1957. The total number of PLA was cut 1/3.

The 5th disarmament: End of 1957, the total number of PLA was cut 26.2 percent, among them, 27.3 percent of the ground force, 17 percent of the Navy and 16.4 percent of Air Force was cut .

The 6th, 7th and 8th disarmament: Carried out in 1978, 1980 and 1985 respectively, the total number of PLA was cut 1 million. During the period, the original 11 Military Commands (Regions) were cut into 7 Military Commands (Regions).

The 9th disarmament was in 1997, the PLA had been cut 500,000 people and some of the PLA will be transferred into the Armed Police. The total number of armed force: 2.5 million

The 10th disarmament was in 2003, the PLA cut 200,000 people (among them 170,000 were officers), and the total number of armed force was reduced to 2.3 million.

Nuclear Weapons: In October of 1964, the People's Republic of China successfully exploded its first atomic bomb. On October 27th, 1966, China fired her first nuclear bomb from a guided missile. On June 17th, 1967 China had exploded her first hydrogen bomb.