China to reorganize armed forces, reduce military by 500,000

BEIJING -- China has decided to eliminate 500,000 members of the People's Liberation Army -- about 20 percent of its force -- in an effort to turn the world's largest standing military into a streamlined, modern organization, Chinese and Western sources said.

The plan would cut the size of the army over the next five years to about 1.85 million troops, the sources said on condition of anonymity. The Chinese government spends up to $60 billion a year on defense, comparable to Russian military expenditures, according to a report last month by the Council on Foreign Relations.

The military modernization is taking place as this country seeks to parlay its emerging economic power into greater geopolitical influence.

China now has the sixth-largest economy in the world, according to the World Bank. Once confined to Asia, Chinese interests now span the seas. More than 50 percent of imported oil comes from the Middle East, and China's energy investments range from Sudan to Venezuela and Kazakhstan.

Struggle for modernization

While there has been notable economic success here, military modernization has proved elusive. In late April, 70 sailors and officers died on board a submarine in the country's worst publicly acknowledged military accident. The Council on Foreign Relations report concluded that China is far from becoming a global military power and that it remains at least two decades behind the United States in military technology and ability.

Western and Chinese sources said the troop cuts were approved during the 16th Congress of the Communist Party in November and at a subsequent meeting of the Central Military Commission, the country's highest military body.

In a speech on May 23, President Hu Jintao hinted at the cuts, ordering the military to work on the development of reserve units and to find jobs for demobilized soldiers. In the speech at a meeting of the Communist Party's Politburo to study the "world's modern militaries" -- a clear reference to the United States -- Hu urged the army to carry out "developmental leaps in the modernization of national defense and the military."

Citing contacts in China's armed forces, a Western military officer said the cuts would focus on demobilizing a vast array of nonessential personnel.

Analysts liken the People's Liberation Army to a large state-owned corporation. It has its own hospitals, schools, movie studios, TV production centers, publishing houses, opera troupes, textile factories, farms and hotels. Many of these organizations are "an unnecessary drain on their resources," the Western military officer said.

Significantly, the demobilization, the second major troop cutback since 1997, when China also cut 500,000 soldiers, does not appear to be proceeding simultaneously with an overhaul of the military's command structure, two Chinese sources said.

Newspapers in Hong Kong and Singapore have reported in recent weeks that the Chinese government was prepared to replace its Soviet-era continental command structure with a military more geared to projecting power toward Asia's sea lanes and Taiwan.

The Council on Foreign Relations report had listed that reform as a key way to gauge the pace of modernization.

However, the news reports appear to be premature, and China seems to be headed for a less ambitious tweaking of its current system, Chinese sources said.

At most, China will cut the number of military regions from seven to six, merging the Jinan Military Region with the Nanjing Military Region, the sources said. The Nanjing Military Region is tasked with leading unification efforts with Taiwan, a focal point for military preparedness. The government continues to threaten Taiwan with attack if the island democracy of 23 million people declares independence.

Chinese military officers said they expect no broad structural changes in the PLA as long as former president Jiang Zemin retains control as chairman of the Central Military Commission.