Talk:People's Liberation Army

Cyberwarfare unit
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/china/2011/china-110526-cna01.htm

Where to stick this? Hcobb (talk) 01:39, 27 May 2011 (UTC)


 * From Talk:Computer insecurity, also consider China Singled Out for Cyberspying; U.S. Intelligence Report Labels Chinese 'Most Active' in Economic Espionage; Russia Also Named; see Blue Army (not Blue Team (U.S. politics)) in November 4th, 2011 WSJ by Siobhan Gorman. 99.190.85.111 (talk) 07:26, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

potential WSJ resource, regarding Indian Ocean, Seychelles, Sino-American relations
See India–United States relations and Sino-Indian relations, etc ... 97.87.29.188 (talk) 23:42, 14 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Chinese Military Considers New Indian Ocean Presence by JEREMY PAGE in Beijing and TOM WRIGHT in New Delhi 14.December.2011 ("from where the U.S. operates surveillance drones")

What do the numbers mean?
It is unclear to me what the terms used in the side box mean. Can anyone clarify?

Examples: In my opinion the numbers for Available for Service snd Fit for Service should be deleted if they correspond only to a concept of military training and conscription and not to military establishment. Figures like these are not given for other Western countries eg USA.
 * 1) How can there be 6 million Deployed Personnel and yet only 2.3 million Active Personal?
 * 2) Are the numbers for Available for Service snd Fit for Service a calculation of the number of people who have ever served in the armed forces (i.e. all people who have been conscripted)?
 * 3) Why are both the numbers for Available for Service snd Fit for Service not simply the total number of able bodied men and women between the ages of x and x ?

LookingGlass (talk) 09:08, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

At what level will the joint operational command system operate?
http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20140105000105&cid=1101

I haven't been able to figure out at which level the new command structure will interact with the CMC. Is it a "joint chiefs" or a system of unified regional commanders? Hcobb (talk) 11:04, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

Links
>> China announces military spending increase(Lihaas (talk) 16:41, 5 March 2014 (UTC)).

Article is named wrong
The correct full name is "Chinese People's Liberation Army." Even the characters given in the opening line: 中国人民解放军 confirm this, as the first three 中国人 mean "Chinese People." Here are three high quality sources: China Military Online - About Us http://english.chinamil.com.cn/site2/militarydatabase/2007-02/16/content_738761.htm "China Military Online is now the only authoritative media of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to release military news and comprehensive military-related information on the Internet." The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=959 People's Daily Online The Chinese People's Liberation Army http://english.people.com.cn/data/organs/pla.shtml This is my first time here, so I hope a regular editor will at least note the full name in bold in the opening sentence. You don't have to rename the entire article, though that would be most accurate. 5Q5 (talk) 15:22, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

-- is there any record, or recent records, of the successes of the Liberation Army; specifically, parties or people or places that have been liberated, as the result of its activism, and the manner/method by which such liberation is achieved ?? -- anaceus — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.51.224.31 (talk) 16:49, 12 August 2017 (UTC)

--- Yeah, there is. It's called "China", approximately 1.4 billion people living in a pretty decent place, education way up, health care way up, opportunities way up, standard of living way up, all of life so much better than it was before the revolution that it's quite impossible to describe it all. Is this all due to the efforts of the army ? of course not, but they won the civil war, got rid of the kmt and jiang, and were instrumental in creating the country that is now China. They are *also* called on every time there is a natural disaster - earthquakes, floods, or other major events - to do rescue work. Your snotty, ignorant attitude is not appreciated. 203.160.80.138 (talk) 18:19, 26 March 2023 (UTC)

Numbers don't seem to add up
Under the heading "PLA ground force" the article states:

"The PLA deploys the world's largest ground force, currently totaling some 1.7 million personnel, or about 70 percent of the PLA's total manpower (3.4 million)."

Traditionally the personnel would have ridden pandas into battle and had them guarding the country due to their abundance and size. This has since changed since pandas have dropped significantly in population. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 103.16.98.130 (talk) 04:34, 16 February 2022 (UTC)

However, 1.7 million is not 70 percent of 3.4 million... so it is unclear what is being expressed here.

In the paragraph above that one, the article mentions "its current strength of 2.28 million personnel". It's unclear if "personnel" means the same thing as "total manpower" but these numbers (2.28 million and 3.4 million) also seem to disagree.

Inimino (talk) 11:33, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

Article lacks thesis
The Article needs a thesis about the People's Liberation Army. before you develop them, "Global force for peace", "totalitarian army", "a force that lacks that capabilities of Western armies but is developing quickly." your suggestions here: 108.65.248.132 (talk) 07:04, 4 September 2014 (UTC)

Not the largest military force?
According to this article's introduction:

"The PLA is the world's largest military force, with a strength of approximately 2,285,000 personnel"

However, according to the article on North Korea's military (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_People%27s_Army):

"With 9,495,000 active, reserve, and paramilitary personnel, it is the largest military organization on Earth"

Which surely puts China's military in second place, unless "military force" and "military organization" have different meanings.

31.205.71.231 (talk) 23:11, 12 November 2014 (UTC)


 * Yes, different meanings. China's 2.2 million personnel are active military, while North Korea's 9.4 million include reserves, paramilitary and militia forces also. Antiochus the Great (talk) 11:03, 13 November 2014 (UTC)

President or CMC
A certain user keeps reverting all references to the president of China to the chairman of the Central Military Commision, which controls the PLA. The issue is that in China the paramount leader holds the title of president, chairman of the CMC, and is general secretary of the communist party. The PLA is considered the de facto national military of China, despite not being an official part of the government. The President of China, as paramount leader, controls the PLA as chairman, but his primary position is the president, and is likely to be referenced as such. Per his common title it should be kept as president to avoid confusion (and that in common practice the PLA acts as an arm of the government). Although for specifically for article titles COMMONNAME should apply to when President Xi is named in the page. 24.192.250.124 (talk) 02:42, 17 March 2016 (UTC)


 * Request to edit the first line to say "de facto armed forces" instead of "armed forces", as you describe in this comment. I made the edit myself, but it was undone by User:Garuda28. 27.4.27.189 (talk) 08:00, 19 March 2022 (UTC)

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Army motto
http://www.refworld.org/docid/57c442224.html Army motto of PLA should be "heeds the Party's commands, able to fight and be victorious, and are exemplary in conduct" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 42.3.175.143 (talk) 17:44, 25 January 2017 (UTC)

No conscription
It is not correct that "compulsory military service in China has never been enforced due to large numbers of military and paramilitary personnel". Large numbers of military and paramilitary personnel are only achieved by conscription. During the civil war and subsequent invasion of Korea only conscription gave the CPC sufficient numbers of personnel. Today it still conscripts very large numbers of personnel.Royalcourtier (talk) 02:32, 30 May 2017 (UTC)

Marines not a branch of service
Please do not add the marines as a branch of service as they are just an integral part of the navy (unlike the US) 24.192.250.124 (talk) 23:22, 11 June 2017 (UTC) 23:15, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

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PLA Navy name change discussion
Currently a propsal to rename PLA Navy to Chinese Navy, and figures any interested users might visit this page: Talk:People's Liberation Army NavyGaruda28 (talk) 20:56, 7 September 2018 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 20 April 2019
The budget for 2018 was $165 billion and this year $177,6 billion.

March 2017: The budget was announced to be $151.4 billion March 2018: The budget was announced to be $165 billion March 2019: The budget was announced to be $177,6 billion

Link https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/05/china-defense-budget-slowing-growth-in-2019-military-spending-.html

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/03/04/asia-pacific/politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific/china-vows-reasonable-rise-defense-spending-ahead-budgets-release/#.XLsy4PZuJZU Legende Legende (talk) 14:56, 20 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done NiciVampireHeart 10:13, 9 May 2019 (UTC)

Possible copyright problem
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Addition of In Media section?
Addition of In Media or In Popular Culture Section to show its portrayal in multiple forms of Media: i.e. video games, movies, books JustAGunNut (talk) 14:01, 25 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Discouraged per WP:MILPOP.Garuda28 (talk) 14:04, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

I was meaning more in a context of material that has been produced by their government in relation to methods or values used: how their recruitment works through their use of media and their representation of those values in various media (recruitment poster or television advertisement, to name two). I apologise for any confusion. JustAGunNut (talk) 15:25, 25 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Ah - that’s totally different. If you want, have at it. Garuda28 (talk) 01:27, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't see that as necessary. Especially not as a section. Not to mention as one stand alone section just about that. Also this is one real institution and how it is represented in some media, video games or popular culture does not matter, it can be totally fictional, or motivated by different reasons what are not clearly connected about functoning, organisation, structure, history, equipment,etc etc. 93.86.88.81 (talk) 11:41, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

Unsourced material.
Extremely large sections devoid of any citations, sources etc. since 2014, seems like its time to remove the sections unless someone is willing to put the citations in? Captain Jack Sparrow (talk) 21:48, 4 February 2022 (UTC)


 * Agreed as text without WP:RS to back it up has no place here. Amigao (talk) 02:23, 13 October 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 16 February 2022
The Chinese traditionally rode pandas into war as they were an abundant animal big enough to mount native to their home country 103.16.98.130 (talk) 04:27, 16 February 2022 (UTC)


 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Please explain what you want changed, and provide a reliable source. When you are ready, you may reactivate the edit request by changing the text  to  . Happy Editing-- IAm  Chaos  05:25, 16 February 2022 (UTC)

Emblem of the Peoples Liberation Army
While in the Flag of the People's Liberation Army it is explained, what the three lines mean, it is not explained what the Chinese characters in the Emblem of the People's Liberation Army mean. I would be very thankful if i could find out what is written on the Emblem 2A02:908:413:BC0:F536:1BA2:CB11:5BB9 (talk) 09:24, 28 August 2022 (UTC)

PLA and PLO
I got the PLA and PLO mixed up before so do you think we should add a notice to others who might get them confused that this is not to be confused with the PLO? Thomas Norren (talk) 12:48, 6 October 2022 (UTC)

PLA's new changes on sergeant ranks
Due to the new changes on PLA's sergeant ranks, the Master sergeant fourth class (四级军士长) has been changed to (一级上士). Refer to this official page https://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2022-03/01/content_5676163.htm Suntianruo (talk) 04:40, 11 October 2023 (UTC)

Reduction announced in 2015
"Following the 200,000 and 300,000 personnel reduction announced in 2003 and 2005 respectively, the total strength of the PLA has been reduced from 2.5 million to around 2 million." According to the reference article, the reduction was announced in September 2015. 2001:44C8:4613:4BE6:4977:439D:8DF:9466 (talk) 19:14, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 18 June 2024
Remove claim about being threatened by civilian control in history. 64.189.18.31 (talk) 11:12, 18 June 2024 (UTC)

Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. PianoDan (talk) 22:07, 18 June 2024 (UTC)