The People’s Liberation Army of China in the framework of the military reform was reduced by several hundred thousand servicemen. The most optimized were the Ground Forces. Their number today is less than half of the total number of Chinese Armed Forces.
According to the South China Morning Post, in the course of the reform, the ground forces of the People’s Liberation Army of China will be reduced by more than a quarter. In general, about 200 thousand servicemen in the army are subject to resignation and transfer to other branches of the military.
According to experts, the reform is carried out taking into account forecasts that in future wars the importance of the Navy, Air Force, missile units and cyber war will increase, and the role of ground units, by contrast, will decrease. In particular, during the transformations, the number of marines will increase fivefold - from 20 thousand to 100 thousand.
The total strength of the People’s Liberation Army of China after the reform will be about 2 million troops. The reform should be completed by 2020.
