“These are the most profound changes to the Chinese military since the 1950s, when Soviet advisers created the Chinese military in their own image,” said David Finkelstein, a retired US Army officer who directs the China Studies program at CNA, a research group based in Arlington, Virginia. Mr Xi is reducing troop levels by 300,000, mostly from the army. Old departments have been eliminated and China’s Central Military Commission, the Communist Party body that runs the military, has been strengthened. -- that Mr Xi and the CCP outlined at the third plenum of the 18th Central Committee in 2013. The first will be Beijing’s ability to better project military force and conduct joint operations off its shores.

Source: Bangkok Post May 19, 2017 04:30 UTC