China's military today pledged its support for President Xi Jinping's announcement to cut three lakh troops by 2017 to make it leaner and more effective as experts said the move will not have any major effect on the world's largest army.
The military said all units of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) supported the communist party leadership's efforts to achieve its dream of "building a strong army", Hong Kong- based South China Morning Post quoted the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese military, as reporting today in a commentary.
It had combined pledges from the heads of the People's Liberation Army (PLA)'s four headquarters, seven key land troops' military area commands, air force, navy, the strategic missile force, paramilitary police, military academies and grass-roots officers expressing support for the troop cut.
In his speech yesterday at the massive military parade held to commemorate the 70th anniversary of victory against Japan during WW-II, Xi said the 2.3 million-strong PLA would cut its force by three lakhs.
Despite the cut, the PLA would still remain the world's largest standing army.
While the move comes at a time when Chinese economy faced slowdown - which is beginning to have negative effect on the job market, it also caused consternation among the public as much of PLA recruitment comes from rural areas where the military is seen as a major employment generator.
As it modernised with high-tech weaponry, the PLA also looked to recruit more graduates.
All seven key PLA military commands, the main bases of the land forces are believed to be targets of the cuts in personnel, the Post report said.
The reduction in personnel would be centred on phasing out outdated equipment, simplifying administrative and non- combat roles and "adjusting and improving military structure", defence ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said, adding it would be expected to be completed by late 2017.
Party leaders from the departments of the General Staff, General Political, Logistics and General Armaments said the reduction in personnel demonstrated China's sincerity in pursuing world peace and seeking a common ground with other countries.
Strategic analysts, however, said the cut will not have any major effect China's military power.
Lee Jung-nam, a China affairs expert at Korea University's Asiatic Research Institute, said Xi was keen to convey the message that China would continue to maintain peace by downsizing the military, but its neighbouring countries were not likely to take his words as a reassurance.
"People all know that cuts of 300,000 military personnel will not affect China's military power.
"The downsizing aims to restructure the army, not to make it weaker," she told the Post.
