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China military reform

China military reform
Latest news, features and opinion on the military in China, including the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the development of warships, aircraft carriers and fighter jets, spending on the armed forces and reforms and modernisation. US-China and mainland-Taiwan military tensions and the deployment of China’s armed forces overseas are also covered.
New procurement rules for the Chinese military dictate that troops should receive weapons and equipment that are combat-oriented, high quality and offer advanced performance. Photo: Xinhua
China's military weapons

Chinese military tightens review of weapons pricing to fight corruption

CMC Equipment Development Department releases new rules amid push for quality equipment and ‘professional ethics’.

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China’s air force

China’s military calls for tip-offs as it targets corruption in air force

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China's military weapons

Why China’s rapid military build-up is ‘hardly the whole story’

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Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign

Newcomers in charge at PLA’s corruption-hit command overseeing Taiwan

State media shows Yang Zhibin and Zhang Jichun at official event, suggesting they are heading the Eastern Theatre Command.

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PLA Air Force Lieutenant General Yang Zhibin, pictured in uniform, is shown at the annual commemoration of the Nanking massacre on Saturday. Photo: CCTV
China's military weapons

Chinese tank, upgraded for high altitudes, could be sent to border with India

The Type 99B has been designed for ‘rapid and sustained combat operations’ in areas like the Himalayas, according to state media.

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China-South Korea relations

Why South Korea poses a major challenge to China’s Middle East arms export drive

Both neighbours hope to expand exports to the region, but the Koreans may be better placed due to systems integration and political concerns.

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China's military weapons

China’s unmanned Moyujian strike helicopter is ready for plateau combat tests

At Aero Asia in Zhuhai, developer says it put high-altitude drone with missiles through live-fire target tests above 4,000 metres.

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The Moyujian’s next round of testing will be “a target test mission using satellite communication and beyond visual line of sight control, at an altitude of over 6,000 metres”. Photo: CCTV
China's military weapons

Is China’s rapid anti-submarine drone progress adding to concerns of Japan, US?

After decades within the confines of the first island chain, the PLA Navy is unveiling a succession of game-changing advances.

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China’s military

Chinese military issues new rules to ‘prioritise strict political discipline’

Effective in January, latest revisions come amid Beijing’s anti-corruption campaign that has led to recent downfall of several top generals.

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China's military weapons

China’s scandal-hit arms firms drag down regional sales in record-breaking year

SIPRI Top 100 reveals stark divide in performance for the only region to record a drop in the midst of rising revenues globally.

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Chinese military aviation and shipbuilding companies in the Top 100 have seen increased revenues, while providers of ground-based arms on the list fared less well. Photo: Getty Images
China’s military drills

Could the PLA use long-range rockets against ships in an attack on Taiwan?

State TV footage shows PHL-03 launchers hitting moving maritime targets during drill.

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Beijing’s long-range rocket launchers can hit moving targets at sea as well as land, according to CCTV. Photo: CCTV
Taiwan

Taiwan’s William Lai accused of stoking fear with 2027 countdown confusion

Critics question where the money will come from to finance Lai’s plans for a massive increase in military spending.

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China’s military

China has minimal nuclear arsenal, seeks no arms race with US: white paper

Document criticises Trump’s planned Golden Dome system, saying it would ‘pose a serious threat to outer space security’.

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War and conflict

Opinion | Why advances in conventional weapons tech should worry China, Russia and US

Washington, Beijing and Moscow must realise that rapid expansion of precision non-nuclear strike capabilities does not deter war, but instead invites miscalculation.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
China’s military

China’s private defence companies see opportunities amid growing conflicts

Ukraine war and Kashmir conflict highlight ‘broad stage’ for firms to meet demand for affordable and reliable equipment, insiders say.

While China’s state-owned defence conglomerates continue to dominate weapons development, private companies have increasingly entered the sector in recent years under the country’s military-civil fusion strategy. Photo: Handout
China's military weapons

China’s military eases physical requirements for pilots based on new cockpits

Changes have been made to height, weight and limb length criteria, taking into account factors like aircraft upgrades, PLA Daily says.

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China's military weapons

China-US-Russia rivalry for Middle East stealth fighter sales on show in Dubai

Analysts say China’s increasingly competitive J-35 is the one to watch among non-US allies as market splits on geopolitical lines.

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China’s fourth plenum

Opinion | 15th five-year plan charts a course for China’s modernisation

By building on past successes and shoring up areas of weakness, China can lay firm foundations to achieve socialist modernisation.

Illustration: Craig Stephens
China’s military drills

China’s aircraft carriers put to ‘train-as-you-fight’ test beyond island chains

PLA Daily sheds new light on navy’s drills to increase launch frequency and far-sea combat readiness.

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South China Sea

Opinion | How does China’s modernising navy stack up against the US seventh fleet?

Between what the US can sustain in the region vs what China can concentrate near its shores, the calculation increasingly favours Beijing.

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China's military weapons

China’s first 076 ‘drone carrier’ amphibious assault ship begins sea trials

Extended flight deck makes Type 076 one of the world’s largest vessels of its kind, with PLA Navy delivery expected by end of 2026.

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China’s first drone-carrying Type 076 amphibious assault ship, the Sichuan, on its maiden sea trial on Friday. Photo: Xinhua
China’s fourth plenum

How Xi’s ongoing battle against PLA corruption shapes China’s military future

The fight against graft in the armed forces is set to become one of the national priorities for the next five years.

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Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
China's military weapons

Images suggest China is building its first nuclear-powered carrier

War Zone report says hull of Type 004 being built in Dalian has what might be a reactor containment structure.

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China’s military

Meet Ma Weiming, the Chinese naval genius behind the Fujian’s catapult

Ma, father of the carrier’s electromagnetic launch system, is among a select few at the vessel’s commissioning ceremony.

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United States

Opinion | Trump’s nuclear turn risks upsetting fragile global strategic balance

US president may have wanted to project strength, but nuclear weapons testing could further isolate America and spark a new cold war.

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Socialist Unity Centre of India activists burn an effigy of US President Donald Trump at a rally to mark the 80th anniversary of the world’s first atomic bomb attack, on Hiroshima at the end of WWII, in Kolkata on August 6. Photo: AFP
China's military weapons

China’s Pacific power takes strategic leap with new carrier

The commissioning of the Fujian, China’s third aircraft carrier, extends the nation’s reach into the Pacific, provided it can overcome the challenges of operating a blue-water navy.

Photo: Xinhua
China's military weapons

China’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian, enters service

World’s largest conventionally powered warship makes China the second country to field a carrier with electromagnetic catapults after the US.

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US-China relations

China could win a contest with the US ‘before a shot is even fired’: strategists

Decades of neglect and decline have made logistics the weakest link in Washington’s deterrence strategy in the Pacific, they said.

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