PLA Ground Force: Xi Jinping’s High-Stakes Gamble to Build a World-Class Military
China's PLA is restructuring for a world-class military by 2049. Discover how Xi Jinping is transforming the army into a leaner, digital force.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has long been defined by its sheer scale, with its ground forces traditionally serving as the strongest and most numerically dominant arm of China’s military. However, under the leadership of Chairman Xi Jinping, the PLA is undergoing a profound and often painful transformation. The goal is clear: drag the military into the modern era, shedding outdated bulk in favor of agility and digital sophistication.
The Great Cull: Making the Army Leaner
The journey toward modernization began in earnest in September 2015, when Xi Jinping announced a massive restructure during a military parade in Tiananmen Square. In a bold move to streamline the force, the PLA shed 300,000 soldiers and officers between 2015 and 2018. This drastic reduction was designed to make the PLA Ground Force leaner and more efficient.
Today, it is believed that the army constitutes slightly less than half of the PLA’s total two million members. Despite this significant cull, the communist party-controlled PLA remains the largest military force on the planet.
A Roadmap to 2049: Deliberate Evolution
China's approach to military evolution is characterized as deliberate rather than rapid. The government has set two primary milestones for its ambitions:
- By 2035: Basically complete national defense and military modernization.
- By 2049: Achieve the status of a "world-class military."
Structural Shifts and Theater Commands
A pivotal change occurred in 2016 when the PLA replaced its seven traditional military regions with five theater commands to better promote joint operations. These are the Eastern, Southern, Western, Northern, and Central theaters.
The digital frontier has also seen rapid shifts. In December 2015, the Strategic Support Force was created to master cyber, space, and electronic warfare. However, in a sign of the ongoing fluidity of these reforms, the Strategic Support Force was disestablished in April 2024, morphing into the Information Support Force.
Operational Readiness Amidst Leadership Gaps
Dennis Blasko, a prominent PLA expert and former US defense attaché in Beijing and Hong Kong, notes that the PLA has now operated joint headquarters at the Central Military Commission (CMC) and across the five theaters for about a decade. According to Blasko, these command centers are functioning well enough to maintain operational readiness.
This readiness is evident in routine operations across several hotspots:
- The East China Sea (around Taiwan)
- The South China Sea
- The Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India
- The Gulf of Aden
- Various overseas United Nations peacekeeping missions
Interestingly, this operational tempo has been maintained despite serious vacancies in senior leadership positions. Blasko attributes many of these gaps to the widespread detentions resulting from Xi Jinping’s aggressive anti-corruption campaign.
The Rise of the Expeditionary Force
While the army remains focused on land border security and the amphibious assault mission for Taiwan, a shift in power is occurring toward the sea. Beyond the 300,000 redundancies, the Ground Force has shrunk further because roughly seven brigades were transferred to the PLA Navy Marine Corps (PLANMC) over the last decade.
The PLANMC has now evolved into a formidable force consisting of eleven brigades:
- Eight marine brigades
- Two special operations forces brigades
- One aviation brigade
Supported by a fleet of large amphibious ships—including eight Type 071, four Type 075, and one Type 076 vessel—the PLANMC is now viewed as the PLA’s primary expeditionary force. Meanwhile, the security of China's vast periphery remains the responsibility of permanently stationed border defense units.