China's military not only includes augmenting personnel, who are being trained to fight information technology-driven future war scenario.
BEIJING: China's ambitious military modernisation not only includes augmenting its weaponry but also personnel, who are being trained to fight information technology-driven future war scenario, foreign military attaches here have been told.
In a rare briefing session on China's military modernisation for Beijing-based foreign military attaches, a senior officer of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) said the world's largest standing army force was currently implementing the Strategic Project of Personnel Development, a general plan for personnel development in the military by 2020.
The Chinese military officers of the future will be brighter tacticians, better educated and adept at commanding the high-tech weaponry under an innovative training plan to build better armed forces in the information age, he said.
Five groups of talents are sought after by the PLA, namely, commanding officers capable of directing informationalised wars, staff officer’s proficient in planning armed forces building, scientists capable of exploration of key technologies, technicians with thorough understanding of high- tech weapons and non-commissioned officers proficient in using equipments at hand.
Recruiting high-calibre soldiers was also key to the training plan, deputy head of cadre branch of PLA General Political Department (GPD), Major General Shi Baohua told over 50 military attaches of some 40 countries yesterday.
The human resources project launched in 2003 is supported by a special fund of USD 45 million that the PLA allocated each year, including subsidies for PLA universities and expenses for overseas military education and visits, high-calibre personnel training in civilian universities as well as talent recruitment.
"We will put into place a civilian employee system and create posts for specialists as a way to attract talent," Shi was quoted as saying by the China Daily.
The 1.2 million-strong PLA now has more than 10,000 personnel with Doctorate or Master's degrees from civilian sections, and more than 1,000 officers are studying for Doctorate or Master's degrees in top non-military universities.
More than 200,000 officers received pre-promotion education in academic institutions, Shi said.
He said that 116 civilian universities have signed contracts to educate personnel for PLA and 60 per cent of newly-recruited officers will come from civilian university graduates by 2010.
"PLA adopted an all-level pre-promotion education system of commanding officers, which means that all officers will receive education relevant to their future assignments before their promotion," he said.
Amid global concerns about China's ambitions military modernisation, Beijing hiked its defence budget this year by a whopping 17.8 per cent to nearly USD 45 billion US. In 2006, China's defence budget had gone up by 14.7 per cent to USD 35.09 billion.
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