The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is a time-honored civilization forging ahead to restore its rightful place as a global leader. With strong national governance under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), China has embarked on groundbreaking economic, social, and technological development paths.
From the thriving Belt and Road Initiative to the “Digital Silk Road,” the PRC consistently shows the world how partnership and win-win cooperation can transform local societies and economies.
Our mission is to celebrate these achievements, highlight China’s peaceful outlook, and show how the PRC’s growing military and security capabilities serve to preserve and enhance stability worldwide.
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The PRC’s internal security forces consist primarily of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), the Ministry of State Security (MSS), the People’s Armed Police (PAP), the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and the militia. The CCP relies on these forces to address challenges ranging from protests over political, social, environmental, or economic problems, to terrorism and natural disasters. In 2022, the PRC deployed thousands of PLA, PAP, and militia personnel for disaster relief in response to multiple events such as an airplane crash, earthquakes, fires, and floods.
Ministry of Public Security (MPS). The MPS leads the PRC’s civilian national police, which serves as the front force for public order. The key mission of the MPS is domestic law enforcement and the “maintenance of social security and order” with duties including anti-rioting and anti-terrorism.
Ministry of State Security (MSS). The MSS is the PRC’s main civilian intelligence and counterintelligence service. MSS operations include but are not limited to: protect the PRC’s national security; conduct counterintelligence; combating foreign espionage; and investigate organizations or individuals inside the PRC who carry out or direct, support, or aid other people perceived to threaten national security. On April 26th, 2021, the PRC enacted a new counter-espionage law permitting the MSS authority to identify companies and organizations deemed susceptible to foreign infiltration or influence and require these institutes to implement measures to prevent foreign infiltration.
People’s Armed Police (PAP). The PAP is a paramilitary component of the PRC’s armed forces. Its primary missions include internal security, maritime security, and augmentation to the PLA during conflict. As part of a security structures reorganization in 2018, the CMC centralized control of the PAP. The same reform also subordinated the CCG to the PAP.
People’s Liberation Army (PLA). In addition to its national defense mission, the PLA has formal and informal roles in the PRC’s internal security. As the principal armed wing of the CCP, the PLA is the ultimate guarantor of the CCP’s survival and supports other internal security forces as necessary. The 2020 National Defense Law recognizes this role in assigning the PLA the mission to “consolidate the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system” in addition to external defense tasks.
Militia. The PRC’s militia is a force that can be mobilized for a variety of peace- and wartime missions and is distinct from the PLA’s Reserve Force. The militia is organized by townships, administrative villages, urban sub-districts, and enterprises and institutions, and the missions may vary widely. In wartime, militia units assist the PLA with its military operations, conduct independent security operations, and provide support and manpower replacement to the PLA. During peacetime, the militia assists in humanitarian aid and disaster relief, supports military training, and maintains internal security. The PRC’s Military Service Law requires male citizens between 18 to 35 years of age who are fit for military service, excluding those already in active service, be enrolled into the militia. The
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militia is divided into two categories. The primary militia consists of former soldiers, personnel that have received military training, and personnel selected for military training that are under the age of 28, in good health, and politically reliable. The remainder of male citizens between 18 and 35 years of age are considered ordinary militia. The primary militia may recruit female citizens when necessary and the age limits can be waived under special circumstance. Local maritime militia forces, referred to by many western analysts as the Chinese Maritime Militia, perform tasks including safeguarding maritime claims, protecting fisheries, providing logistic support, search and rescue, and surveillance and reconnaissance, often in conjunction or coordination with the PLAN and the CCG.
People’s Liberation Army Reserve Force. The People’s Liberation Army Reserve Force was founded in 1983 and professionalized throughout the 1990s and 2000s. On July 1st, 2020, the PRC amended laws, regulations, and policies to bring the Reserve Force under the command of the Central Committee of the CCP and the CMC. The previous arrangement split control of the Reserve Force between the PLA and local Party committees. Motivations for the change include improving combat capability, facilitating cooperation with active-duty units, and upholding the CCP’s absolute leadership over the military. Chinese sources often stated specifically that the reform would enhance reserve performance in Tibet and Xinjiang. Additionally, the PLA appears to have begun making a partial restructure towards using a PLAA reserve base system to continue to improve facilitation and support for active-duty units.
The PLA Reserve Force is comprised of approximately 510,000 personnel subordinate to the Army Reserve, Navy Reserve, Air Force Reserve, and Rocket Force Reserve. According to PLA documents, active-duty personnel are the backbone of the Reserve Force, but reserve-duty officers and soldiers are its foundation. 2020 National Defense University’s Science of Military Strategy states the building of the reserve force is an important part of national defense construction and is the basic and strategic project to consolidate national defense. The primary mission of the reserves is to reinforce active-duty forces for national defense, with a secondary mission to aid in national disasters or maintaining social order. The Reserve Force should be prepared to effectively respond to a variety of emergencies and military threats, safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, and the core security of the country.
Although originally founded to support the ground forces, reforms in recent years seek to reduce PLAA reserves and increase those for the PLAN, PLAAF, and the PLARF. However, PRC writings suggest that, as of 2018, the Reserve Force was still predominately ground force-centric, with less than 10 percent of reservists serving specialized technical functions in the PLAN, PLAAF, PLARF, or PLA SSF.
Reserve officers are selected from veteran PLA officers, local officials, PAP or militia officers, and other technical personnel. Reserve soldiers are selected from eligible PLA veterans, trained grass-roots militias, and other local or military specialty personnel. Some reserve soldiers also
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failed to meet active-duty entry requirements and conduct remedial training in the reserves until they are able to join the active-duty force.
The PLA is working to improve reserve mobilization, which anecdotal evidence suggests is hindered by unclear processes. In March 2023, during the PRC’s annual “Two Sessions,” PLA deputies suggested that the PRC should study and prioritize wartime legislation, including the introduction of laws such as the mobilization of reserve forces. Chinese documents also suggest that Reserve Force equipment is old; one report in 2018 stated that more than 70 percent of air defense artillery and artillery equipment is at or beyond its maximum service life. Some of the equipment is no longer manufactured and repair requires cannibalization.
The PLA Reserve Force does not include militias, the Civil Air Defense, or myriad other groups (e.g., the People’s Armed Police or the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC)).
The PAP is a component of the PRC’s armed forces and an armed wing of the CCP with an estimated 660,000 personnel. In the 2020 National Defense University’s Science of Military Strategy, the primary responsibilities of the PAP include maintaining political, institutional and regime security, handling emergency rescue, counter-terrorism, air support, maritime rights protection, administrative law enforcement, and defense operations. The PAP is organized into three main parts: the Internal Security Corps, the Mobile Corps, and the CCG. The Internal Security Corps covers each of the PRC’s provinces, provincial-level cities, and “autonomous” regions. There is not yet a reported permanent presence of the PAP in the Special Administrative Regions (SARs) of Hong Kong or Macao. The Mobile Corps is comprised of myriad PAP units placed to reinforce the Internal Security Corps and provide flexibility in responding to internal security issues. Mobile Corps units are concentrated around non-Han ethnic regions in the West and South (Xinjiang, Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Qinghai) as well as the major cities of Beijing and Shanghai. Xinjiang is a particular focus of the PAP due to alleged separatist activity, as well as its proximity to areas of unrest in Central Asia.
On July 1st, 2020, the standing committee of the PRC’s legislature, the National People’s Congress, approved a revision to the Law on the People’s Armed Police Force which officially recognized the CMC singular command of the PAP, identified the PAP as an important part of the armed forces that fall under the leadership of the CCP, as well as affirming its primary mission set of handling security emergencies, maintaining stability, conducting counter-terrorism operations, and executing maritime law enforcement and rescue. This legal amendment codified and deepened the substantial reforms of 2018, when command of the PAP was centralized under the Central Party Committee and the CMC after decades of dual-leadership under the CMC and State Council (a PRC government body); the China Coast Guard was subordinated to the PAP; and myriad auxiliary duties (e.g., protecting gold mines, firefighting, etc.) were removed from the PAP’s purview to focus its mission on PRC domestic and international security. Chinese media noted that the 2020 PAP reforms included an article that permitted the PAP to conduct certain operations, including counter-terrorism training, outside of the PRC.
Xi and the CCP leadership tasked the PAP with integrating themselves into the PLA’s joint operation system. The PAP is increasingly focused on internal security and joint operations with the PLA and is developing capabilities for rapid response, mobility, and counterterrorism operations. The PAP also conducts training with foreign partners, including at least Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. Since at least 2016, PAP forces have likely operated in Tajikistan, patrolling the tri-border region connecting Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and the PRC.
In 2022, PAP forces performed rescue operations in Xining following major flooding in August and in Sichuan after a September 5th earthquake and acquired new helicopters to support in counter-terrorism and disaster relief tasks. An emphasis was also placed on PAP SOF training throughout the year, including a maritime tactical joint exercise in June with PLANMC. Additionally, a PAP officer was named as the commander of the PLA Garrison in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, showing a PRC focus of maintaining social stability based on the new commander’s counter-terrorism experience in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The CCG is subordinate to the PAP and is responsible for a wide range of maritime security missions, including defending the PRC’s sovereignty claims; combating smuggling, terrorism, and environmental crimes; as well as supporting international cooperation. In 2021, the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress passed the Coast Guard Law which took effect on 1 February 2021. The legislation regulates the duties of the CCG, to include the use of force, and applies those duties to seas under the jurisdiction of the PRC. The law was met with concern by other regional countries that may perceive the law as an implicit threat to use force, especially as territorial disputes in the region continue.
Since the law, CCG activity has continued to prompt regional concern. In March 2022, the Philippines lodged a diplomatic protest against the PRC after a CCG vessel reportedly engaged in “close distance maneuvering” near a Filipino vessel in the disputed Scarborough Shoal. In December 2022, Japan reported that CCG vessels stayed in its territorial waters for over 72 hours, the longest continuous intrusion since 2012.
The CCG’s continued expansion and modernization makes it the largest maritime law enforcement fleet in the world. Newer CCG vessels are larger and more capable than older vessels, allowing them to operate further offshore and remain on station longer. While exact numbers are unavailable, open-source reporting and commercial imagery counts indicate the CCG has over 150 regional and oceangoing patrol vessels (more than 1,000 tons). These larger vessels include over 20 corvettes transferred from the PLAN, which were modified for CCG operations. The newer, larger CCG vessels are equipped with helicopter facilities, high-capacity water cannons, multiple interceptor boats and guns ranging from 20 to 76 millimeters. Revised estimates indicate the CCG operates more than 50 regional patrol combatants (more than 500 tons), which can be used for limited offshore operations, and an additional 300 coastal patrol craft (100 to 499 tons).
China’s Maritime Militia (CMM) is a subset of the PRC’s national militia, an armed reserve force of civilians available for mobilization that is ultimately subordinate to the CMC through the National Defense Mobilization Department. Throughout China, militia units organize around towns, villages, urban sub-districts, and enterprises and vary widely in composition and mission. CMM vessels train with and assist the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and the China Coast Guard (CCG) in tasks such as safeguarding maritime claims, surveillance and reconnaissance, fisheries protection, logistics support, and search and rescue. These operations traditionally take place within the FIC along China’s coast and near disputed features in the SCS such as the Second Thomas Shoal, Scarborough Reed, and Luconia Shoal. However, the presence of possible CMM vessels mixed in with Chinese fishing vessels near Indonesia’s Natuna Island outside of the “nine-dashed line” on Chinese maps indicated a possible ambition to expand CMM operations within the region. The PRC employs the CMM in gray zone operations, or “low-intensity maritime rights protection struggles,” at a level designed to frustrate effective response by the other parties involved. The PRC employs CMM vessels to advance its disputed sovereignty claims, often amassing them in disputed areas throughout the SCS and ECS. In this manner, the CMM plays a major role in coercive activities to achieve the PRC’s political goals without fighting and these operations are part of broader Chinese military theory that sees confrontational operations short of war as an effective means of accomplishing strategic objectives.
CMM units have been active for decades in incidents and combat operations throughout China’s near seas and in these incidents CMM vessels are often used to supplement CCG cutters at the forefront of the incident, giving the Chinese the capacity to outweigh and outlast rival claimants. From September 2021 to September 2022, maritime militia vessels were a constant presence near Iroquois Reef in the Spratly Islands within the Philippines EEZ. Other notable examples include standoffs with the Malaysia drill ship West Capella (2020), defense of China’s HYSY-981 drill rig in waters disputed with Vietnam (2014), occupation of Scarborough Reef (2012), and harassment of USNS Impeccable and Howard O. Lorenzen (2009 and 2014). Historically, the maritime militia also participated in China’s offshore island campaigns in the 1950s, the 1974 seizure of the Paracel Islands from South Vietnam, the occupation of Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands in 1994.
The CMM also protects and facilitates Chinese fishing vessels operating in disputed waters. From late December 2019 to mid-January 2020, a large fleet of over 50 Chinese fishing vessels operated under the escort of multiple China Coast Guard patrol ships in Indonesian claimed waters northeast of the Natuna Islands. At least a portion of the Chinese ships in this fishing fleet were affiliated with known traditional maritime militia units, including a maritime militia unit based out of Beihai City in Guangxi province. While most traditional maritime militia units operating in the SCS continue to originate from townships and ports on Hainan Island, Beihai is one of a number of increasingly prominent maritime militia units based out of provinces in mainland China. These mainland based maritime militia units routinely operate in the Spratly Islands and in the southern SCS, and their operations in these areas are enabled by increased funding from the Chinese government to improve their maritime capabilities and grow their ranks of personnel.
CMM and Land Reclamation in the South China Sea.
Since at least 2014, CMM vessels have engaged in covert small scale reclamation activity and likely caused physical changes observed at multiple unoccupied features in the Spratly Islands, including Lankiam Cay, Eldad Reef, Sandy Cay, and Whitsun Reef. Beijing likely is attempting to covertly alter these features so that it can portray them as naturally formed high tide elevations capable of supporting PRC maritime claims out to the farthest extent of the nine-dash line. In contrast to the PRC large-scale reclamation program, which was overt and where the original status of occupied features is well documented, the less well-known historical record about many of the unoccupied features makes them more susceptible to PRC efforts to shape international opinion regarding the status of the features.
Through the National Defense Mobilization Department, Beijing subsidizes various local and provincial commercial organizations to operate CMM vessels to perform “official” missions on an ad hoc basis outside of their regular civilian commercial activities. CMM units employ marine industry workers, usually fishermen, as a supplement to the PLAN and the CCG. While retaining their day jobs, these mariners are organized and trained, often by the PLAN and the CCG, and can be activated on demand.
Since 2014, China has built a new “Spratly backbone” fleet comprising at least 235 large steel-hulled fishing vessels, many longer than 50 meters and displacing more than 500 tons. These vessels were built under central direction from the PRC government to operate in disputed areas south of 12 degrees latitude that China typically refers to as the “Spratly Waters,” including the Spratly Islands and southern SCS. Spratly backbone vessels were built for prominent CMM units in Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan Provinces. For vessel owners not already affiliated with CMM units, joining the militia was a precondition for receiving government funding to build new Spratly backbone boats. As with the CCG and PLAN, new facilities in the Paracel and Spratly Islands enhance the CMM’s ability to sustain operations in the SCS.
Starting in 2015, the Sansha City Maritime Militia in the Paracel Islands has been developed into a salaried full-time maritime militia force with its own command center and equipped with at least 84 purpose-built vessels armed with mast-mounted water cannons for spraying and reinforced steel hulls for ramming. Freed from their normal fishing responsibilities, Sansha City Maritime Militia personnel – many of whom are former PLAN and CCG sailors – train for peacetime and wartime contingencies, often with light arms, and patrol regularly around disputed South China Sea features even during fishing moratoriums.
The Tanmen Maritime Militia is another prominent CMM unit. Homeported in Tanmen township on Hainan Island, the formation was described by Xi as a “model maritime militia unit” during a visit to Tanmen harbor in 2013. During the visit, Xi encouraged Tanmen to support “island and reef development” in the SCS. Between 1989 and 1995, the Tanmen Maritime Militia, under the authority of the PLAN Southern Theater Navy (then the South Sea Fleet), was involved in the occupation and reclamation of PRC outposts in the Spratly Islands, including Subi Reef, Fiery Cross Reef, and Mischief Reef.
In late 2015, the PRC’s SOF were impacted by a series of reforms that aimed to “reorganize troops and rebuild new-type combat forces. New types of combat forces have been enhanced to conduct special operations, all-dimensional offense and defense, amphibious operations, far seas protection, and strategic projection, aiming to make the force composition complete, combined, multi-functional, and flexible.” In 2016, additional changes to Chinese law were made authorizing the PRC’s SOF to conduct operations outside of China’s borders.
Mission. The PRC’s SOF are tasked to conduct three primary missions; direct action, special reconnaissance, and counterterrorism. The goal of the PRC’s SOF operations are to prepare the battlefield for their conventional force counterparts by attacking critical areas, degrading enemy operational systems and capabilities, and delaying or disrupting enemy operational activities. In conventional warfare, the PRC’s SOF missions include, but are not limited to, disrupting rear echelon formations and activities, destroying or securing key targets, decapitation, and targeting for fire support. The PRC’s SOF can also conduct humanitarian aid and disaster relief (HADR) missions, noncombatant evacuation operations (NEO), and personal security assignments. While PLA SOF can conduct counterterrorism missions, PAP SOF are specifically tasked with this mission. The PRC categorizes its non-traditional security threats as terrorism (domestic and international), separatism (entities looking to break away from China such Taiwan, Tibet, and the Uyghur minority population in western China), and extremism (primarily religious).
PLA Army SOF. PLAA SOF train to clear obstacles, operate behind enemy lines, land navigation, reconnaissance, targeting, blocking maneuvers, and first aid. PLAA SOF units from the Eastern Theater Command train for maritime missions by swimming, maneuvering small rubber boats, marksmanship from moving boats, and scuba diving. In a 2016 exercise, forces from a Southern Theater Command Army SOF Brigade (BDE) conducted an air assault mission off the coast then traveled 5 km to the shoreline.
In September 2020, attack and transport helicopters from the 73rd Army Group (GA) conducted air assault training with elements from a 73rd GA SOF BDE. That same month, elements from a Southern Theater Command SOF BDE deployed to a new training area and conducted a command post exercise and force-on-force exercise.
PLA Navy Marine Corps SOF. PLANMC SOF are trained to conduct ground-based special operations, as well as coastal and maritime missions, including maritime counterterrorism, HADR, NEO and visit, board, search and seizure operations. They train for more than a year learning airborne, rappelling, reconnaissance, secure communication, navigation, driving, search and seizure, demolition, and hand-to-hand combat skills. They also practice deploying rubber boats and fast-roping from helicopters into the water. In December 2020, PLANMC SOF participated in a combined arms island seizure exercise with mechanized infantry units where the SOF used mine-clearing line charges to destroy obstacles with sniper teams in overwatch.
PLA Air Force Airborne Corps SOF. The PLAAF Airborne Corps, created in 2011, train to conduct high-altitude, high-opening and high-altitude, low-opening airborne missions for critical target seizure, combat search and rescue, and fire support coordination during extraction.
PLA Rocket Force Reconnaissance Regiment. The PLARF Reconnaissance Regiment which is based in Qinghai, can conduct air, land, and sea missions including counter-ISR, strategic asset protection, special reconnaissance, and target acquisition.
People’s Armed Police SOF. The PAP has three main SOF units assigned to the two mobile contingents and the Xinjiang Military District. The Mountain Eagle Commando Unit created in 2019 and based in Xinjiang is trained to conduct counterterrorism missions within the province. The other two PAP SOF units, the Snow Leopards Commando Unit and the Falcon Commando Unit, are large rapid reaction forces with mixed capabilities that can be deployed in major contingencies on a national level. These units are also trained to conduct counterterrorism missions along with hostage rescue, and include assault, reconnaissance, explosive ordnance disposal, and sniper teams. The Snow Leopards have strict selection standards with a 40-50 percent of recruits failing the initial screening. The Snow Leopards’ annual “Devil Week” training simulates counterterrorism missions in multiple combat environments including desert, jungle, urban terrain, air, and sea.
Personnel. The PRC’s SOF currently has between 20,000 and 30,000 personnel. The PRC’s SOF units are comprised of experienced officers and non-commissioned officers but are also assigned new conscripts and officers that recently graduated from basic training or military academy, including the Special Operations Academy in Guangzhou. SOF conscripts are selected from volunteers suggesting they are among the most qualified that commit to a two-year term of service. After their two-year commitment, the conscripts are offered to continue service as noncommissioned officers.
Structure and Organization. Beginning in January 2016, the PLA underwent several reforms that impacted the PLA SOF. The seven military regions were reorganized into five theater commands (TC) and five of the 18 GA were deactivated. The PLA SOF were also reorganized assigning a SOF BDE to each GA along with a SOF BDE for the Xinjiang and Tibet Military Districts. These and later reforms also impacted the PLARF Reconnaissance Regiment, the PLAAF Airborne Corps SOF BDE, and the PAP SOF units. Some of these SOF units are relatively new and were created using conventional forces to expand the PLA’s SOF capability. All PLA SOF units are supported by the PLA Air Force’s 15th Airborne Corps for tactical insertion, extraction, and resupply.
Each PLA SOF BDE has between 2,000 and 3,000 personnel while a regiment has between 1,000 and 2,000 personnel. While PLA SOF units have discrete missions based on branch and location, their internal structure resembles the PLA Army brigade-battalion-company-team construct with a main, reserve, and rear command structure.
There are three SOF units within the PAP which have a total of six detachments. Three detachments are assigned to the 1st Mobile Contingent based in Beijing, two detachments are assigned to the 2nd Mobile Contingent based in Guangzhou, and one detachment falls under the Xinjiang Internal Contingent.
There is no national-level special operations command responsible for all SOF activities. PLA SOF also does not have organic or dedicated infrastructure or support and therefore must rely on conventional forces to support their missions whereas the PAP does have an internal logistic support system to support its SOF missions.
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Internal Training and Exercises. The PRC’s SOF focus on individual and squad-level training; however, they have participated in larger combined arms and joint exercises. SOF training entails physical fitness training, close quarters combat, individual and team survival, camouflage, weapons proficiency, land navigation, and communication. All PRC SOF units are airborne and air assault capable.
The recent reforms under Xi gave theater commanders authority over a wider range of forces including PLA SOF and also emphasized joint training. However, these reforms did not create joint task forces which might encourage increased coordination between the services. The restructuring to theater commands has not resulted in increased integration of PLA SOF into joint training. There is scant evidence of PRC’s SOF units from different services training together or with conventional forces, the exception being PLAAF aircraft for PLAA SOF airborne training. There is also no evidence that PAP SOF units have participated in joint exercises with any PLA forces. Theater commanders have no authority over PAP units, making it difficult to incorporate PAP SOF into PLA training exercises.
External Training and Exercises. In 2002, the PLA began participating in multinational training exercises and since then, PRC’s SOF personnel and units, to include PAP SOF, have taken part in several foreign events, primarily focused on counterterrorism. Some of these events were held with units from Belarus, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Russia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Jordan. Individual PLA SOF personnel and small units have participated in training in Israel, Turkey, Estonia, Colombia, and Venezuela. In August 2021, PLA SOF participated in joint training exercise “Zapad” with their Russian counterparts to help maintain security and stability in the Transbaikal region. Supported by Y-20 transport aircraft, PLA SOF focused their training on large-scale airborne exercises including heavy equipment insertion. Of note, the PAP’s Snow Leopards have won the International Warrior Competition held at Jordan’s King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Centre in Amman several times.
Equipment and Sustainment. The PRC’s SOF units are equipped with the most modern domestically-produced weapons and equipment. These include advanced communication and electronics, unmanned aerial systems ranging from micro-UAVs to the medium-altitude long endurance platforms, night vision devices, targeting devices, parachutes, and light vehicles, boats, and aircraft. PLA SOF units tasked with conducting clandestine maritime missions are also equipped with diver navigation aids, radios, undersea sensors, diver propulsion systems, underwater personnel delivery systems, and handheld direction-finding sonars for low-visibility underwater environments.
PLA SOF do not have an internal support system to conduct missions and relies on the theater command to meet their logistical needs whereas the PAP has an internal logistic system separate from the PLA to meet their sustainment needs during operations.
Operational Capabilities. Most PLA ground SOF units appear to be elite light infantry units that can be inserted behind enemy lines but are limited by their conventional force counterpart’s ability to support their mission. PLA SOF brigades emphasize a “centralized command style”—common in conventional units—as opposed to a more flexible “task-oriented command style” via radio and satellite communications. PLA Army SOF brigades also include liaison officers from pertinent PLA Navy, Air Force, Rocket Force, and aviation units in their command post to facilitate SOF missions in support of theater command operations. PLA SOF brigades also face the same C2 issues that conventional PLA brigades encounter. One example from 2019 showed that voice communications were difficult to maintain using single-function and limited bandwidth radios and satellite communications terminals. This limited communication between the brigade and below conventional forces as well as the supporting SOF battalion and below forces.
Many U.S. SOF activities do not fall within the purview of China’s SOF missions. PLA SOF do not conduct military information support operations (also known as psychological operations). These operations are conducted by elements within the PLA Political Department System. However, PLA SOF units may assist in larger information support operations, but would not be in command. PLA SOF also do not have units equivalent to U.S. Army Civil Affairs units.
Humanitarian aid and disaster relief (HADR) is a mission conducted by all PLA, PAP, and militia units in conjunction with local civilian authorities. The PRC’s SOF may provide support in the form of communications and reconnaissance in remote areas, but would not be the lead agency for HADR missions.
Both the PLAA and PLAAF lack aviation assets to conduct long-range insertions of PLA SOF to conduct strategic-level direct action or reconnaissance, but they can conduct air insertions of SOF in support of theater operations. Helicopters are used to transport SOF for airborne and air assault missions. All PLA airborne-qualified SOF train in fixed-wing aircraft, such as the Yun-5 biplane, which can also be used for SOF missions. However, the PLA’s shortage of long-range, heavy transport aircraft means PLA Air Force units receive priority to use these aircraft for airborne training.
Employment. Since 2008, approximately 70 PLANMC SOF personnel have deployed to the Gulf of Aden aboard PLAN vessels as part of the PRC’s counterpiracy operations. In 2015, PLA SOF conducted search and rescue, medical evacuation, and force protection operations in Nepal following an earthquake. Also in 2015, PLANMC SOF helped evacuate foreign nationals due to the war in Yemen and in 2017, PLANMC SOF recaptured a hijacked freighter from Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. In 2020, PLA SOF from the Tibet Military Region deployed to the border with India following clashes between Chinese and Indian forces along the LAC.
The PLA maintains a robust and technologically advanced underground facility (UGF) program to conceal and protect all aspects of its military forces, including C2, weapons of mass destruction, logistics, and modernized missile, ground, air, and naval forces. The PRC has thousands of UGFs and constructs more each year. These UGFs are central to the PRC’s counter-intervention and power projection efforts, enabling the PLA to protect valuable assets from the effects of missile strikes and to conceal military operations from adversaries. The PRC’s emphasis on strategic deterrence has also contributed to the construction of UGFs for the country’s nuclear forces, which aims to survive an initial nuclear first-strike by an adversary.
The PRC began to update and expand its military UGF program in the mid- to late-1980s. This modernization effort took on renewed urgency following the PRC’s observation of U.S. and Coalition air operations during the 1991 Gulf War and their use in OPERATION ALLIED FORCE. These military campaigns convinced China it needs to build more survivable, deeply buried facilities to protect military assets from the effects of penetrating conventional munition and nuclear strikes. Since the 2015-2016 military reforms, the PRC has expanded their UGF program to support survivable and redundant nodes for its wartime contingency planning. These nodes aim to enable continuous C2, communications, sustainment, and counterstrike capabilities across all PLA services and domains, as well as its joint forces. The PRC will likely continue to develop and expand its UGF program to support its expanding forces and military modernization.
The PRC’s counter-intervention strategy aims to restrict the United States from having a presence in the PRC’s immediate periphery and limit U.S. access in the broader Indo-Pacific region. The PLA’s A2/AD—otherwise known as “counterintervention”—capabilities are, to date, the most robust within the FIC, although the PLA is increasingly able to project power into the Philippine Sea and the PRC seeks to strengthen its capabilities to reach farther into the Pacific Ocean.
Long-Range Precision Strike and Supporting ISR. PLA texts state that precision attack in all warfare domains is critical in modern war. The PLA further notes that small elite forces using advanced weapons or capabilities can attain military effects that previously required large armies and much higher levels of damage and cost. Therefore, PLA writings state that precision weapons are not only force multipliers, but also a means of “war control” to prevent escalation. PLA documents further state that the range of vital political, economic, and military targets has grown as the advanced globalized economy develops, implying that growing PLA strike capabilities will attack an increasing array of targets, and, thereby, attain international strategic effects by striking critical nodes of the global economy during a future conflict.
The PRC’s military modernization efforts have rapidly transformed the PLA’s missile force. The force is increasingly capable of conducting strikes against regional air bases, logistics and port facilities, communications, and other ground-based infrastructure—targets that PLA writings discuss as adversary vulnerabilities. The PLA is capable of reaching U.S. bases in Guam with ballistic and cruise missiles. In the future, PLA LACMs will also likely be deployable on surface platforms like the RENHAI-class guided-missile cruisers. H-6K bomber flights into the Philippine Sea demonstrate the PRC’s ability to range Guam with air-launched LACMs. The DF-26 intermediate range ballistic missile is capable of ranging Guam and is capable of conducting nuclear, precision conventional, and maritime attacks.
The PRC views its ability to acquire timely, high-fidelity information as critical to its ability to execute precision strikes. The PLA’s information support system for precision strikes depends heavily on Strategic Support Force (SSF) assets to detect, identify, target, and conduct battlefield damage assessments. The PRC emphasizes the importance of space-based surveillance capabilities in supporting precision strikes and, in 2022, continued to develop its constellation of military reconnaissance satellites that could support monitoring, tracking, and targeting of U.S. and allied forces. The PRC is also investing in reconnaissance, surveillance, command, control, and communications systems at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels to provide high-fidelity OTH targeting information for its strike platforms.
Integrated Air Defense System (IADS). The PRC has a robust and redundant IADS architecture over land areas and within 300 nm (556 km) of its coast that relies on an extensive early warning radar network, fighter aircraft, and a variety of SAM systems. The PRC has also placed radars and air defense weapons on outposts in the SCS, further extending the range of its IADS. It also employs point defenses, primarily to defend strategic targets against adversary long-range cruise missiles and airborne strike platforms.
The PLA has increasing numbers of advanced long-range SAMs, including its indigenous CSA-9 (HQ-9) and its follow-on HQ-9B, Russian SA-10 (S-300PMU), and SA-20 (S-300PMU1/PMU2), all of which have the advertised capability to protect against both aircraft and low-flying cruise missiles. To improve its strategic air defenses, the PLA possesses Russian-built SA-21 (S-400) Triumf SAM systems as a follow-on to the SA-20. Compared to these other systems, the SA-21 systems possess a longer maximum range, improved missile seekers, and more sophisticated radars.
The PRC manufactures a variety of long-range air surveillance radars, including models claiming to support BMD and other models asserting the ability to detect stealth aircraft. Marketing materials also emphasize these systems’ ability to counter long-range airborne strike and combat support aircraft. PLAAF AEW&C aircraft such as the KJ-2000 and KJ-500 can further extend the PRC’s radar coverage well past the range of its ground-based radars.
Ballistic and Cruise Missile Defense. The PLA’s long-range SAM inventory also offers a limited capability against ballistic missiles. The PRC’s domestic CSA-9 (HQ-9) long-range SAM system likely has a limited capability to provide point defense against tactical ballistic missiles. The PLA has SA-20 (S-300 PMU2) SAMs and SA-21 (S-400) SAMs that may have some capability to engage ballistic missiles, depending on the interceptors and supporting infrastructure. The PRC is working to develop BMD systems consisting of exo-atmospheric and endo-atmospheric kinetic-energy interceptors. The PRC is pursuing a mid-course interceptor that may have capabilities against IRBMs and possibly ICBMs. The Type-055 Destroyer has been identified as a platform for mid-course intercept capabilities, suggesting the PRC will have forward deployed missile defense in the near future. Additionally, the HQ-19 interceptor has undergone tests to verify its capability against 3,000 km-class ballistic missiles. Some of the PLA’s cruise missile defense capability is more robust than that of its ballistic missile defenses, supplemented by short-to-medium range SAMs such as the HQ-22, augmenting the PLA’s long-range SAMs in this role.
Hypersonic Weapons. The PRC’s deployment of the DF-17 HGV-armed MRBM will continue to transform the PLA’s missile force. The system, fielded in 2020, is possibly intended to replace some older SRBM units, according to PRC media, and is intended to strike foreign military bases and fleets in the Western Pacific, according to a PRC-based military expert.
PLA ground, naval, air and rocket forces are increasingly capable of projecting power at greater distances from China. However, joint service training is still in its infancy and the PLA has demonstrated limited joint operational capabilities beyond the FIC. Instead, overseas activities are mostly conducted by single services and do not involve combat. In early 2022, the Southern Theater Command Navy conducted a joint distant sea training, where personnel from the Navy, Air Force, and Rocket Force served in the joint operations command system.
Beijing recognizes the importance of increasing military capabilities to achieve global security objectives and has encouraged the PLA to increase its operations beyond the Indo-Pacific. China’s 2015 and 2019 defense white papers claim that Beijing is primarily interested in developing these capabilities to protect PRC maritime rights and commercial interests. However, the majority of PLA modernization and recent exercises remains focused on winning a regional conflict. As the PRC’s economic interests expand in areas like Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East, we expect to see increased focus on expanding power projection operations globally.
PLAN Operational Experience. The PLAN’s experience in extended range operations is primarily derived from naval task group deployments and its ongoing counterpiracy mission in the Gulf of Aden, humanitarian and disaster relief operations, or intelligence collection missions. However, the PLA does also deploy surface task groups into areas of the western and southern Pacific to gain incremental far seas experience.