THE “PEOPLE” IN THE PLA: RECRUITMENT, TRAINING, AND EDUCATION IN CHINA’S MILITARY Roy Kamphausen Andrew Scobell Travis Tanner Editors September 2008 This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. As such, it is in the public domain, and under the provisions of Title 17, United States Code, Section 105, it may not be copyrighted. Visit our website for other free publication downloads http://www.StrategicStudiesInstitute.army.mil/ To rate this publication click here ***** The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. 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ISBN 1-58487-354-X ii CONTENTS Foreword General John M. Shalikashvili, USA-Ret. ................v 1. Introduction Roy Kamphausen, Andrew Scobell, and Travis Tanner .........................................................1 2. Trends in Education and Training, 1924-2007: From Whampoa to Nanjing Polytechnic Thomas J. Bickford .......................................................19 3. “True is False, False is True, Virtual is Reality, Reality is Virtual”: Technology and Simulation in the Chinese Military Training Revolution James Mulvenon...........................................................49 4. PLA Conscript and Noncommissioned Officer Individual Training Dennis J. Blasko............................................................99 5. Building the Fighting Strength: PLA Officer Accession, Education, Training, and Utilization John F. Corbett, Jr., Edward C. O’Dowd, and David D. Chen ....................................................139 6. Reforming the Officer Corps: Keeping the College Grads In, the Peasants Out, and the Incompetent Down Kristen Gunness and Fred Vellucci............................191 7. PLA Career Progressions and Policies Elizabeth Hague..........................................................233 iii 8. Educating “New-Type Military Talent”: The PLA’s Command Colleges Nan Li.........................................................................291 9. The Cradle of Generals: Strategists, Commanders, and the PLA-National Defense University Paul H. B. Godwin.....................................................317 10. Shaping China’s Next Generation of Military Leaders: For What Kind of Army? Ellis Joffe.....................................................................353 About the Contributors ....................................................389 iv FOREWORD I am pleased that, for the second year in a row, the U.S. Army War College and The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) teamed up to convene the annual PLA colloquium. Over the years, this event has success- fully increased understanding of China’s military and the multiple aspects of its ongoing modernization effort. Last year was no exception. On September 28, 2007, under the joint leadership of the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute and NBR’s Pyle Center for Northeast Asian Studies, approximately 70 leading experts on the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) convened at Carlisle Barracks, PA, for a 2-day discus- sion on the Chinese military’s human infrastructure. Presentations and discussions at the conference fo- cused on identifying trends in recruitment, education, training, personnel management, and demographics within the PLA. The People in the PLA: Recruitment, Training, and Education in China’s Military represents the latest volume in the series published by the Strategic Studies Institute and brings together top-tier academic analysis and insight on the important questions addressed at the 2007 colloquium. This volume describes the advances and reforms the PLA has made in its recruitment, officer and NCO training and education, and mobilization. As part of its larger reform effort to modernize and transform its military into a technologically sophisticated force, the PLA has implemented a number of measures aimed at training up a “new- type” officer for its modernized forces—one capable of operating effectively in a technologically advanced “informationalized” environment. This volume sheds light on such important questions as how the PLA’s v personnel system is adapting to fulfill the requirements of a military force capable of “winning local wars under informationalized conditions” and how the PLA is cultivating a new generation of officers and what capabilities these new officers will likely possess. The importance of any military’s “human capital” cannot be understated. A military is only as effective as the people running it. To date, certain facets of China’s military modernization, including arms buildup, the development of new weapons and systems, and even the emergence of new doctrinal and strategic missions have garnered relatively significant attention. However, the critically important dynamics associated with the PLA’s attempts to improve the quality of its human capital have not been as closely scrutinized, and thus, still are not well-understood. I believe improving our understanding of the professionalization of the PLA, to which this volume makes a significant contribution, holds tremendously important implications for policymakers and military leaders in the United States and across the globe. As such, I am proud to see this important work carry on for another year, and I commend the colloquium organizers, sponsors, and participants who made this undertaking not only possible, but so successful. John M. Shalikashvili General, USA Retired Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Roy Kamphausen, Andrew Scobell, and Travis Tanner Twenty-first century China is undergoing major transformations in virtually every sphere. Decades of almost double-digit annual economic growth rates have been accompanied by double-digit annual growth rates in China’s military budget. There is considerable concern over the pace and scope of this modernization of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Such concerns are underscored by high-profile incidents, such as the January 2007 anti-satellite missile test. Public attention has, understandably, focused on the burgeoning military budget and an impressive modernization of the PLA’s technological hardware. However, a state’s military is only as effective as the people who constitute it—the military’s human capital. This volume examines the “people” in the PLA. ASSESSING THE HUMAN ASPECT OF THE PLA’S MODERNIZATION Following on the 2006 Carlisle Conference’s efforts to examine the “right size” for the PLA in achieving Beijing’s legitimate defense requirements, the 2007 conference, again organized by The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) and the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute (SSI), sought to assess the quality of the PLA’s human resources; identify trends in recruitment, training, and education of conscripts and officers; and assess how these trends 1 are likely to influence the overall effectiveness of a future “informationalized” PLA. The chapters contained herein comprise key insights from over 60 leading experts on China’s military. The volume’s research draws from a rich pool of English and Chinese language sources. But, given the relatively recent start and ongoing nature of the PLA’s reforms in professional military education (PME), training standards, and recruitment practices, comprehensive data and firm conclusions are by no means readily forthcoming. Conversely, the obvious importance of human capital to an effective, capable, and modernized PLA makes filling this lacuna all the more significant and this volume all the more timely. The trajectory of the PLA’s professionalization holds important implications for policymakers and military leaders in the United States and throughout the world. The chapters in this volume raise two common themes. First, each piece emphasizes the PLA’s continued focus on the “two transformations,” the concept invoked by then President Jiang Zemin in 1995 that underpins the PLA’s efforts to transform itself into a force capable of (1) fighting and winning local wars under “informationalized” conditions, and (2) a force based on quality instead of quantity. The second major theme concerns the PLA’s conception of the “new-type” officer for its modernized forces, one who is better educated and more technologically capable than previous generations. The policies of the Chinese government and the PLA have striven to cultivate a new generation of officers capable and competent in executing the PLA’s evolving missions. While the modernization of the PLA’s technical capabilities has arguably been a linear and predictable process, 2 uncertainty still remains concerning the development of the people within the military. This volume attempts to shed light on this development, from the enlisted soldier to the strategic thinkers of the future. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW Thomas Bickford provides an informative overview of historical trends in PLA education and training in Chapter 2. Bickford chronicles the development of Chinese PME through five distinct periods, from the establishment of the Whampoa Military Academy by Sun Yat-sen in 1924 to the “two transformations” reforms. Bickford highlights three key characteristics of the evolution of the PLA’s PME. First, the development of PME has been conspicu- ously nonlinear, with political education remaining nominally constant throughout. PME often changed to suit the PLA’s shifting goals and the intensity of political struggle espoused by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Second, the PLA’s PME has been a work in progress as the conception of the ideal officer has changed based on the political and military environment. Third, officer education and training has not only been shaped by the CCP regime’s threat perceptions, but also by political, economic, and social factors. During the revolutionary era, the content and emphasis of the PLA’s educational system was politically-focused and tactically-based, with the goal of fielding a low-tech infantry force capable of sustaining a guerrilla campaign. Political and military education were fairly evenly balanced, with Soviet experience providing the template for the latter. 3 Subsequent to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the PLA faced the challenge of forming a modern military force including developing a navy, air force, army armored units, and other specialized units to defend the state. A Soviet- style military academy system underpinned the new requirement for specialization, and command schools were established for various levels of rank. Chinese PME was characterized by a high degree of functional specialization through 1965. Thereafter, a break occurred with Soviet military orthodoxy, mirroring the Sino-Soviet rift in the 1960s and underscoring the unique and evolving goals of the CCP and the PLA. Chinese PME came under intense attack during the Cultural Revolution as distinctions between officers and enlisted personnel and an emphasis on technical training were branded as “bourgeois.” About two- thirds of the PLA’s military academies and many more technical and regional schools were closed. Officers effectively had little-to-no training or basic education between 1966 and 1976. Political warfare was the overriding priority of that era. The period 1977-85 saw the rehabilitation of the military education system in response to the backwardness of the PLA, which was clearly on display in China’s poor operational performance in the 1979 attack on Vietnam. Equally important were the political and economic changes taking place at this time. The economic reforms increased the resources available to the PLA and the political environment tilted away from a communist revolutionary agenda and towards a pragmatic approach for national development. Each of these broad developments framed the debate over the future of the PLA. 4