Profile of Xiong Guangkai
General Xiong, a native of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, was born in March 1939.He joined the Chinese People's Liberation Army(PLA)in 1956.A graduate of the PLA Foreign Languages Institute, Xiong once worked in the Chinese Embassy in the former German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany. He began to serve as deputy chief of the General Staff of the PLA in1996 and was conferred the rank of general in 2000.

Since the end of the 1980s, the ways of war and defense have changed a lot. To keep up to date, China plans to restructure its military forces, said Xiong Guangkai, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), at a late July forum. His comments were published on biweekly Banyuetan (China Comment) magazine. Following are excerpts of his comments:

Since the end of the l980s,the world has witnessed a new but far-reaching revolution in military affairs(RMA),known as "new institutional changes in the military." The trend is that this revolution is escalating, which demonstrates the following characteristics:

--Hi-tech based weaponry and equipment.Great varieties of smart munitions are playing an increasing role in today’s battlefields. During the 14-yeal-long Viet Nam War(l960s-70s),precision guided munitions only made up 2 percent of the total ammunition used by the U.S.forces. The figure rose to 8 percent in the l991 Gulf war,35 percent in the Kosovo War in 1999, and 60 percent in the Afghanistan war in 200l.In the Iraq War last March, the proposition of smart munitions used approached 70 percent.

--small-sized but highly capable military.It has become a trend in today's world to shrink the size of the military while enhancing its combat effectiveness by optimizing the components of services and arms. Statistics provided by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London showed that the number of armed forces worldwide decreased 22 percent from 27.95 million in l985 to 2l .88 million in l999.

--Automation of command and control.With the rapid development and wide use of computers,the level of command and control automation has been enhanced Constantly. Currently, an automation data network, which is capable of rapidly passing operational orders down the chain of command and information to national and theater level decision makers, has become the "nerve center" of the entire command automation.

--Multidimensional warfare.In addition to traditional land, sea and air forces, space and electric  (magnetic)assets are also involved in battles. The Gulf War and the Kosovo War proved that the side that has the edge in communication would occupy the dominant  position in a hi-tech based war, while the communication edge is closely related to one’s space superiority.
The United States used 33 military satellites during the Gulf War and 50in the Kosovo War and Afghanistan War respectively. In the Iraq War, more than 9O were used, which played a crucial role in command and precision strike in particular

--Integrated combat.The pattern of combat has changed from coordinated to joint operations among different arms and services. In the stage of mechanized warfare, land, sea and air forces fought together in a coordinated way. But today, they jointly fight information-based wars in an integrated way. The development of information technology is increasingly combining different arms and services into an integral whole.

Backdrop of the world
The RMA occurred under changes of the world situation. First, the world strategic environment has changed greatly with the end of the Cold War. The bipolar pattern of global relations ended while the new one has yet to be formed. Another world war is unlikely to break out in a short period of time, though regional conflicts happen now and then.

Second, the rapid development of high technology, particularly the information technology, has brought about profound and vital changes in weaponry development, military strategy, forms of wars, the military establishment and army building.

Facing the challenge of the worldwide RMA, many countries have gone all out to increase the fighting capability of their armed forces by improving military technology and optimizing military components.

To Build an Army With Chinese Characteristics
The world RMA is of epoch-making significance and is the reflection of informationization in the field of military affairs.China has attached great importance to the trend and is striving to adapt its military to the new situation.

"We should energetically push forward the institutional changes in the military with Chinese characteristics, so as to enable our military to adapt to the rapid development trend of contemporary science and technology and the RMA," said Jiang Zemin, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, on March 10 while meeting PLA deputies to the 10th National People's Congress.

Efforts should be made to intensify study of the new institutional changes in the military around the world and take effective measures to catch up with the trend, said Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC)Central Committee, on May 23 addressing the fifth collective study of the Political Bureau of thc CPC Central Committee.

In the meantime, it is imperative to strengthen the construction of national defense and military modernization in a view to providing a reliable security guarantee for the building of an overall well-off society and socialist modernization, Hu added.

In order to accelerate the institutional changes in the military with Chinese characteristics, it is imperative to have a clear understanding of the trend of worldwide RMA, the gap between China’s military modernization level and the requirement of a modern war, and the dual tasks to complete mechanization and informationization.

During this time, priority will be given to the following aspects:

--Increasing financial input in national defense and army building. The proportion of defense spending in China's GDP has increased slightly over the past years, reaching l.7 percent. It is still lower than that of many countries, which ranges between 2-4 percent. With the growth of national comprehensive strength, appropriate increase of defense spending will contribute to providing a powerful support to national defense and military modernization.

--Building an armed force with Chinese characteristics. Currently, the Chinese military is still in the semi-mechanized and mechanized stage. In the coming years, it will take measures to complete full mechanization by promoting the application of information technology in the military. In light of the national situation and the conditions of the Chinese military,the mechanization and informationization of the military can not be separated, which can actually interact and promote each other in the Chinese military modernization.

--Taking the advantage of military-civilian cooperation. Cooperation between the army and the people has long been a good tradition of the Chinese military both in the war and peaceful times. Many scientific achievements for national defense are the result of joint efforts of the army and the people, including the development of atomic bomb, H-bomb and satellite.


(BEIJING REVIEW  AUGUST 28, 2003)