USA vs. China Ways (6.3)

What’s the Trend of Chinese Military Development?

Four things to watch on the Chinese military trends in the 21th century. First, it will be a military under a political party or the nation? Second, will PLA fight a war in Taiwan, or South China Sea or China-India border? Third, will China fight the so called “Unrestricted Warfare” like via the cyber space, biological warfare, or other unconventional means against its rivals? Finally if China may change its military strategy from the current “active defense” to something more outgoing and aggressive?

As mentioned in the last post, China copied a lot from the Soviet military's forces or called Red Army in its establishment. For example, the Chinese communist army first called itself “ Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army”, but soon changed name to “Red Army” as well.

The Soviet Red Army had the tradition of installing a political commissioner officer at the army’s regiment level. The Chinese Red Army made it go further and installed a political commissioner at the army’s company level. In this way, the military has been under tight control by the communist party, or called “The Party commands the gun”.

Since the communists eventually seized power in 1949 in mainland China, there has been a debate, sometimes weak and sometimes strong, inside…