In January 2016, the world of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) turned upside down. This
is not the consequence of revolution or coup, but a well-thought-out
design to transform the land-centric PLA into a global force, patterned
on that of the United States.
For obvious reasons, this has implications not just for India, but the world.
Restructured
On
December 31, 2015, Xi Jinping presented flags to the commanders of
three new forces of the PLA. Of these, two were essentially restructured
and remodelled - the PLA got its own headquarters like the Navy and the
Air Force, and the Second Artillery Force which holds China’s nuclear
and conventional missiles was redesignated as the Rocket Force.
However the
third, the new Strategic Support Force, is brand new and provides
pointers to the future evolution of the PLA as a fighting force.
The
goal of the SSF is to prepare Beijing to fight the war of the future,
where the weapons will be a computer terminal and space satellites. As a
Chinese naval analyst Yin Zhuo pointed out in an article, it will be
involved in “targeted reconnaissance and tracking, global positioning
operations and space assets management, as well as defence against
electronic warfare and hostile activities in cyberspace.”
An
article in People’s Daily said that the researchers of the SSF were
focusing on cutting edge technologies such as big data applications,
cloud computing, 3D printing and nanomaterials. The new forces are only
the tip of the iceberg of the reform process that has gripped the PLA.
On
the block has been its apex headquarter departments - the four general
departments of staff, politics, logistics and armament - which have been
abolished, and replaced by 15 functional units which report directly to
the Central Military Commission, chaired by Xi, which runs the whole
show.
In
turn, these 15 units comprise of seven full-fledged departments, three
commissions and five affiliated institutions. The new departments are
the CMC General Office; Joint Staff office, and departments relating to
Political Work, Logistic Support and National defenses Mobilisation.
The
new commissions are the CMC Discipline, Political and Law, and Science
and Technology Commissions; and the affiliated offices are the CMC
Strategic Planning, Reform and Formation, International Military
Cooperation, Audit Offices, and the CMC General Affairs Administration.
Commands
China’s
seven military regions have now been reduced to five “battle zones” or
theatre commands. This is of considerable interest to India since it is
now “handled” by a single western battle zone, headquartered in Urumqi.
Earlier
operations relating to India were divided by the Xinjiang Military
Region headquartered in distant Lanzhou, as well as the Chengdu Military
Region headquartered in Chengdu.
So,
a single Chinese commander with all the assets of the Army, Air Force
and conventional missiles of the rocket force will direct the battle
against four Indian Army commands headquartered in Udhampur,
Chandimandir, Lucknow and Kolkata, and three air force commands with
headquarters in Shillong, Allahabad and New Delhi.
Many
of the things the Chinese are doing are things we in India have also
tried to do. First, remodel the apex management of the system.
Currently, our Ministry of Defence is run by generalist IAS officers and
there is an urgent need to introduce specialisation here through two
means.
Second,
introducing uniformed personnel into the MOD hierarchy, just as they
are in the bureaucratic hierarchies of the ministries of defence of
other nations.
Third,
creating a cadre of civilian officers who specialise in security
issues. Currently, they exercise their power through the blunt sword of
procedures by nixing or approving issues over which they have no domain
knowledge.
Recommendations
India
has sought to create a joint staff command under a chief of defence
staff and restructure the existing geographical commands into integrated
theatre commands. Unfortunately, after beginning with the experimental
Andaman & Nicobar command set up through the far-reaching reforms of
the Vajpayee government, the system seems to have lost its nerve.
Recommendations
made by the Naresh Chandra Committee have been shelved and the Modi
government seems more eager to push defence procurement, rather than
carry out the deep restructuring needed to make India’s military a
war-winning force.
The
process of reform is never easy, and so it will not be smooth sailing
for Xi & Co, but so far they have managed to ram through the key
decisions whose implementation will unfold over the next five years.
But
if there is one lesson that we need to learn from the changes it is
that whether a democracy or an authoritarian state, change can only be
brought about through a process led by the political class.
That
accounted for the success of the reforms in the Vajpayee era, and their
failure in UPA-2. We are still waiting to see what the Modi era will
bring. But whatever it intends to, it better get going.
Mail Today February 1, 2016
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