New Delhi: In a giant move to streamline China’s military into the changing global security environment that is being seen to be having significant bearing on the military dynamics of India, President Xi Jinping on Tuesday activated the Phase 2 of China’s military reforms and modernisation effort by setting up or adjusting 84 corps-level units.
On the major military reorganization and the obvious grooming of the armed forces for a major role in the near future, Jayadeva Ranade, former additional secretary of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) who now heads the Delhi-based think-tank Centre for China Analysis and Strategy, said: “President Xi’s target date for completing restructuring and reorganization is 2020-2021. Implications for India are obvious.”
Fleshing it out, the former member of the National Security Advisory Board, said: “President Xi is streamlining the PLA to meet current exigencies. China has discarded the old policy of ‘lie low’, ‘bide your time’, etc and has articulated the ‘China Dream’ which includes ‘recovering’ China’s territories by 2021-the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party.” “Angry rhetoric on Taiwan has risen, For India, the steady decline in the relationship and the recent elevated rhetoric on Arunachal Pradesh including Wednesday’s allocation of Chinese names to places in the Indian state suggests a toughened posture.”
State-run media reported that while receiving the chief military officers from 84 newly established army institutions in Beijing on Tuesday, President Xi said that “the 84 units are a vital part of a new army system, which will shoulder a heavy responsibility in safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development.”
“The move is a continuum of larger military modernisations efforts of China. There is a need to monitor this continuously,” said Commodore Abhay Kumar Singh (retd), an expert on China’s military said.
