 Outside View: Know the enemy and know yourself, newspaper suggests
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-25 07:31 In a really astounding conclusion reached at a symposium on innovation of military management, all participants viewed the combat effectiveness of PLA troops today is nagged by "two cannot suits" on modernization level and military capability respectively, says an article in Defense News. While there is no doubt that China's military capabilities have increased significantly over the past decade and the PLA intends to further improve its combat effectiveness, a group of midlevel or senior PLA officers have agreed that the Chinese armed forces are not ready to win a local war under "information-saturated conditions" and that it cannot accomplish the Army's historical missions, the article said. Such conclusions have also been applied specifically to the PLA's command structure, personnel quality, training, logistics and technology levels. Measures for these are consistent with the three-step development strategy defined in the 2006 Chinese White Paper on National Defense to build an "information-saturated armed forces capable of winning information-saturated wars by the mid-21st century," with milestones in 2010 and 2020, the news said. This long-term view suggests the PLA leadership as a group, though there certainly may be individual exceptions, may not be as hawkish toward the use of military force as frequently assumed by outsiders. While the mission in Sichuan will probably prove to be the largest, longest and most complex operation the PLA has conducted in three decades, it has highlighted both the strength and weakness of the PLA. It has shown the PLA's ability to apply massive amounts of manpower to muscle their way through a problem but also exposed the scarcity of some equipment necessary for modern operations and the lack of real-world experience in conducting operations with the new equipment respectively, the paper said. The Chinese armed forces will gain important experience from these efforts, but more significantly, the leadership will evaluate its performance and make note of achievements and highlight shortfalls to be corrected. These self-evaluations reveal the PLA has not forgotten Sun Tzu's guidance, "Know the enemy and know yourself," the paper concluded. Readers' comments are welcome. Please send mail to Letters to the Editor, China Daily, 15 Huixin Dongjie, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100029 China. Send faxes to (86-10) 6491-8377. Send e-mail to opinion@chinadaily.com.cn or letters@chinadaily.com.cn or to the individual columnists. China Daily reserves the right to edit all letters. Thank you. (China Daily 07/25/2008 page9) |
