PLA cuts manpower to modernise capabilities

China is preparing to accelerate the downsizing of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) by slashing its total force strength by up to 700,000 as the country strives to modernise its military capabilities.

Following China's National Day parade on 1 October, when the PLA displayed a range of advanced new weapon systems, military sources revealed that the Chinese army would shed up to 700,000 troops within the next two to three years, according to news agency Reuters. Chinese sources speaking on background confirmed to Jane's in early October that more downsizing was indeed in the pipeline, although they were unable to confirm how deep the cuts would be.

China's armed forces consist of 2.185 million personnel, with the army accounting for 1.6 million of these. It also has a further 1.5 million reserve and paramilitary forces.

The PLA has already experienced substantial cuts in recent decades, having reduced its head count by one million in 1985, by 500,000 in 1997 and by 200,000 in 2003.