China's People's Liberation Army in 2017 announced plans to reduce the strength of the reserve forces and bring them under the control of the central leadership as part of the reforms of the military
There was no immediate reaction from either the Ministry of External Affairs or the Indian military
The plan to downsize the world's largest army by 300,000 was announced by President Xi Jinping at a parade in 2015
While US still dwarfs China when it comes to defence spending, Beijing's sweeping modernisation of the People's Liberation Army has prompted increases in military outlays from India to Japan