Chinese build a high-tech army within an army

“Gen. Zhu Chenghu … raised the subject of weapons of mass destruction …. Should US forces aid Taiwan in a war, he told bewildered US visitors, ‘Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds … of cities will be destroyed by Chinese’ nuclear weapons.”

In a surprisingly short time, China has accomplished two feats. One, it has focused its energy and wealth on creating an army within an army. It has devoted huge amounts of capital to create a small high-tech army within its old 2.2 million-member rifle and shoe-leather force.

The specialty of this modern force, about 15 percent of the PLA [People’s Liberation Army], is to conduct lightning attacks on smaller foes, using an all-out missile attack designed to paralyze, and a modern sea and air attack coordinated by high-tech communications. In other words, this new modern force is designed to attack Taiwan.

Second, China has taken painful but successful steps to create a “defense industrial base,” or weapons-building capability. The PLA has improved its factory quality control and its ability to adapt foreign technology. It is bringing an indigenous small-wing F-10 fighter off the production line, and it is moving rapidly toward a “blue water” Navy with ships built in China.

… This summer, Gen. Zhu Chenghu, dean of China’s National Defense University, raised the subject of weapons of mass destruction, which China rarely mentions, in connection with Taiwan. Should US forces aid Taiwan in a war, he told bewildered US visitors, “Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds … of cities will be destroyed by Chinese” nuclear weapons.

… A major moment came this July in a Defense Department review on the PLA. While criticized as soft by hawks, the report hit especially hard due to a comment that China’s buildup now appears to go past just an effort to invade Taiwan. Rather, it stated that China was modernizing its forces with the intent of longer range operations and “regional contingencies.”

… The Pentagon is concerned about how much China spends, and what it is buying. China’s exact military spending is shrouded. US experts say it spends $50 to $90 billion annually. Yet Defense Minister Gangchuan insisted to Rumsfeld that the figure is about $27 billion. Days later, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies noted that China’s purchase of Russian equipment alone nearly matched the Chinese official estimate; the IISS says China is at $62.5 billion.

[ Robert Marquand: Christian Science Monitor]

A mystery in Beijing: Who runs the military?

“In what is seen by some analysts as an attempt to consolidate his control, [President] Hu has ruled out suggestions from some younger officers that the Chinese military should become a fully professional force that owes its loyalty to the state rather than the ruling party.”

For foreign governments and analysts monitoring the Chinese military, one of the biggest mysteries is who is actually in charge.

Nominally, President Hu Jintao, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission, the top military command body, is head of the armed forces, but there is considerable doubt among experts about the extent of the authority that he and his fellow civilian leaders exert over the 2.3 million-strong People’s Liberation Army.

“I think Hu Jintao is still facing some challenges from top generals,” said Philip Yang, an expert on the Chinese military and a professor of international relations at the National Taiwan University. “Especially those with their own agenda from the different services and others with their own agenda and perceptions about changes in the outside world, particularly in East Asia.”

The army’s primary mission remains preserving the Communist Party’s monopoly on power and protecting senior leaders.

In addition to defending Chinese territory, most Chinese and foreign analysts agree that Beijing aims to build a force capable of enforcing its claim of sovereignty over Taiwan.

But China’s current thinking about when force is justified or what perceived threats are driving its accumulation of firepower remains unclear for most foreign governments and analysts.

… There is … evidence that some military officers enjoy far more leeway for criticizing or contradicting official policy in a country where dissent remains tightly controlled.

Major General Zhu Chenghu escaped serious censure, according to Chinese officials, after he said in July 2005 that China would respond with nuclear weapons if the United States intervened in a conflict over Taiwan.

… Tolerance has also been extended to another senior officer and influential thinker, Lieutenant General Liu Yazhou, who has publicly called for political reform in China, a move that would be dangerous for most senior Chinese officials.

… In what is seen by some analysts as an attempt to consolidate his control, Hu has ruled out suggestions from some younger officers that the Chinese military should become a fully professional force that owes its loyalty to the state rather than the ruling party.

[David Lague: International Herald Tribune]

Reminds me of the fictional character General Wing, from Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

Wing, a wartime Chinese slave of Japanese soldiers in the Philippines and later a general in the modern Chinese army. Wing is the only other survivor besides Goto himself of a Japanese wartime project to bury war gold in the Philippines, and he competes with Goto and Epiphyte(2) to recover it in the modern day.

[Wikipedia: Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson]