U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission
New Contracted Research Report
Personnel of the People's Liberation Army
Today,
the U.S.-China Commission released a new report entitled “Personnel of
the People’s Liberation Army,” prepared for the Commission by BluePath
Labs.
This report examines the people behind the People’s
Liberation Army (PLA) and the force’s ongoing efforts to address the
Chinese leadership’s longstanding concerns about the competence of its
personnel. Topics surveyed include the challenges the PLA faces in
improving personnel quality; the force’s recruitment and retention
efforts; the expertise, educational, and socioeconomic backgrounds of
PLA personnel; the force’s use of both conscription and voluntary
recruitment; morale; combat readiness; and the role of politics in the
PLA.
Key Findings:
Xi Jinping has had
continued doubts about personnel competence and loyalty since becoming
the Chairman of the Central Military Commission in 2012, and thus has
focused on both force modernization and Party loyalty. Despite this
emphasis, many commanders are still judged as incapable of properly
assessing situations, making operational decisions, deploying forces, or
leading forces in a modern, joint, informationized war.
The PLA
remains concerned about improving political officers’ operational
knowledge, seeking to make political officers an asset rather than a
liability in the command tent. Political officers and Party Committees
within the PLA are emphasized as the key conduit for ensuring Party
control and often play a key role in unit affairs, including in
personnel issues and day-to-day training and operations. They often
struggle to play a productive role in the latter, however.
The
PLA has emphasized recruitment of college-educated and more technically
proficient personnel at all levels since 2009. It has succeeded in
recruiting more educated personnel, though it continues to face serious
challenges with retention and proper utilization of talent.
The
PLA has also worked to improve the professionalism of its
non-commissioned officer (NCO) corps through a range of new initiatives,
with the goal of increasing NCO responsibilities and allowing NCOs to
take over billets previously held by junior officers.
Significant changes have been made to improve training and standardize
bases and academic institutions, while basic training times have nearly
doubled. Most significantly, in 2020 the PLA shifted from a single
conscription cycle per year to two cycles per year, with the aim of
eliminating uneven levels of unit combat-readiness at certain times of
the year.
While progress has been uneven, the sum of these
initiatives is likely to produce a PLA that is more educated,
professionalized, and technically proficient in the coming years.
The report’s authors also provide recommendations for Congress. Read the full report here.
The report was authored by Kenneth W. Allen, Thomas Corbett, Taylor A. Lee, and Ma Xiu.
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The
U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission was created by
Congress to report on the national security implications of the
bilateral trade and economic relationship between the United States and
the People’s Republic of China. For more information, visit www.USCC.gov or follow the Commission on Twitter at @USCC_GOV.
DISCLAIMER:
This contracted report was prepared by BluePath Labs at the request of
the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission to support its
deliberations. Posting of the report to the Commission’s website is
intended to promote greater public understanding of the issues addressed
by the Commission in its ongoing assessment of U.S.-China economic
relations and their implications for U.S. security, as mandated by
Public Law 110-161 and Public Law 113-291. However, the public release
of this document does not necessarily imply an endorsement by the
Commission or any individual Commissioner of the views of conclusions
expressed in this contracted research report.
Thank you,
Jameson Cunningham
Congressional Affairs and Communications Director
U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission
202-624-1496
Link to the report: https://www.uscc.gov/research/personnel-peoples-liberation-army
