Beijing’s self-assessments of its military readiness “represent genuine anxieties” among its leadership about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) readiness for real combat conditions, a US Department of Defense report said.
The Pentagon’s annual report to the US Congress, released on Thursday last week and titled Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China, said that the military shortcomings the PLA has highlighted publicly are “likely to guide and accelerate force-wide modernization efforts.”
The PLA routinely highlights shortcomings using slogans or phrases to urge the military to carry out improvement campaigns, which this year include: the “five incapables,” the “two incompatibles,” the “two big gaps,” the “two inabilities” and the “three whethers,” the report said.
Photo: Reuters
The “five incapables” slogan highlights concerns over shortcomings in training and education “that reportedly left some commanders — particularly at the operational level — inadequately prepared for modern warfare,” it said.
Some commanders cannot judge situations, understand the intentions of higher authorities, make operational decisions, deploy forces and manage unexpected situations, it said.
The “two inabilities” slogan refers to the PLA’s inability to fight a modern war and the inability of its officers at all levels to command in a modern war, it said.
The “two incompatibles” refers to the PLA’s concerns that it “does not meet the requirements of winning local war under informatized conditions” and “does not meet the requirements of carrying out its historic missions at the new stage of the new century,” the report said.
The PLA uses the slogan “two big gaps” to highlight “enduring concerns” about its true fighting capabilities despite years of modernization efforts and its belief that it is “behind the world’s most capable militaries,” it said.
The second gap is that it does not meet national security requirements, it said.
As for the “three whethers,” the report said that the PLA is concerned about whether its armed forces can maintain the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “absolute leadership” and can “fight victoriously when needed,” and whether “commanders at all levels are competent to lead forces and command in war.”
Institute for National Defense and Security Research analyst Shu Hsiao-huang (舒孝煌) said that the CCP is concerned about its capability to carry out joint operations, face new challenges and sustain itself in modern warfare following its 2015 military reforms.
It is unknown whether the PLA has come to a conclusion or decided on a strategy regarding US deployments in the Indo-Pacific region in the past few years, Shu said.
Taiwan’s military said that it is ever vigilant and has continued to train its forces, citing recent collaborations between the Republic of China Air Force and the French Air and Space Force as an example.
A team of French and Taiwanese pilots have been flying simulated combat exercises starting from the middle of this month through early December at an air base in Hualien County, it said.
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