Special reports

China’s armed forces

Unknown soldiers

Special reports -

Overestimating China’s armed forces would be dangerous, argues Jeremy Page

Unknown soldiers

The People’s Liberation Army is not yet as formidable as the West fears

Overestimating China’s armed forces would be dangerous, argues Jeremy Page

Rank indifference

China is struggling to recruit enough highly skilled troops

The PLA needs them to operate all its new weapons

PLAAF "August 1st" Aerobatic Team prepares at Zhuhai Airport ahead of the Airshow China 2021 in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, China

Weapons of woe

From hypersonic missiles to undersea drones, the PLA is making leaps

But China’s military tech still lags behind the West’s

Peace disease

Xi Jinping worries that China’s troops are not ready to fight

Now the war in Ukraine has revealed new challenges for the PLA

President Xi Jinping talks with soldiers onboard a Chinese destroyer-class ship

Command or control

Xi Jinping is obsessed with political loyalty in the PLA

Ideology is undermining China’s drive to prepare forces for combat

A brigade of the army under the Eastern Theater Command and a department of the Navy carry out combat training near Zhangzhou, Fujian province, China

Operation overload

Invading Taiwan would be a logistical minefield for China

Russia’s problems in Ukraine make it look even more daunting

China’s armed forces

Acknowledgments

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