'People' in the PLA: Recruitment, Training, and Education in China's 80-Year-Old Military

摘要

On September 28, 2007, more than 60 leading experts on China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) convened at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, for a 2-day discussion on 'The 'People' in the PLA: Recruitment, Training, and Education in China's 80-Year-Old Military.' The 2007 PLA Conference, conducted by The National Bureau of Asian Research and the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College, sought to investigate the 80-year-old military's human infrastructure, identifying trends in PLA recruitment, education and training, demographics, and historical perspectives. This brief summarizes the discussions that were held at that colloquium, and sets forth a number of key insights. China's ideal 'new type' of military officer is university educated and possesses the technical competence and physical ability to handle actual combat against a modern, high-tech adversary. Driven by the understanding of the critical and integral role of soldiers to the success of military modernization, China's professional military education (PME) system is undergoing rapid changes, focusing on science, technology, and the development of leadership skills. Underpinning China's drive towards a more high-tech military is the concept of informatization ('xinxihua'), a sophisticated idea about aligning capabilities and requirements in the face of an increasingly hybridized force.