Should We Be Afraid of China’s Military? | China Uncensored

On this episode of China Uncensored, should we be afraid of China's military after looking at this? Welcome back to China Uncensored, I'm Chris Chappell. You know, nothing screams confidence. Like driving down the street in your own brand new bright red Lamborghini. Unless it's driving down the street with your brand new intercontinental ballistic missiles. On July 30th, this was broadcast on Chinese state-run media. The commencement of the military parade marking the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army." Who did they get to do that voiceover? The guy from the Warriors? Warriors! 12,000 troops, 129 aircraft, and more than 500 tanks, missile launchers, and other weapons lined up rank and file. All part of the PLA, the People's Liberation Army that was formed on August 1, 1927. Typically military parades are held in the heart of Beijing, in front of large crowds, under blue skies. Blue skies that disappear after the CCP allows people to start driving their cars again. But this military parade was held in the middle of nowhere, at the Jiuhe Military Base in the region of Inner Mongolia, which is part of Northeast China. You may remember Jiuhe Military Base from an episode we did two years ago. That's where they have a replica of Taipei's presidential palace, so troops can practice invading Taiwan. Anyway, this time there were no adoring crowds watching the parade live. But state-run media solved that problem by broadcasting the footage at the top of every hour. Holding the parade at a base instead of in Beijing was a stylistic choice. You know, a little grittier, a little tougher, a little more...rap music video? But the biggest change in style had to go to Xi Jinping. He rocked this full combat uniform. I've always wondered, though, why do they have four microphones? Anyway, the soldiers seemed pretty into it. Xi, not so much. The soldiers also wore combat outfits instead of ceremonial uniforms. I guess to show they're combat-ready, following Xi's recent instructions. But should this display of China's military might worry the rest of the world? Don't be silly. Everyone knows what a giant military parade in China means. It means peace! Peaceful. Peace. And peace. World peace. Peaceful. Peace. Peaceful. Peace. Peaceful development or peaceful rise. Peaceful. Peaceful development. Peace. I'm sure it was a nuclear missile formation of peace. So how terrified should we be? Under Xi Jinping, the budget for the military has swelled. He's laid off redundant troops, and he's been spending money for an upgraded modern army. According to the Ministry of Defense, almost half of the equipment seen at this week's parade was on display for the first time. Xi has also created a new branch of the military modeled after DARPA in the US. Its goal is to work on high-tech weaponry, like stealth aircraft and electromagnetic cannons. And Xi has given himself some big new titles— Corps Leader and Commander-in-Chief. So is World War 3 imminent? Probably not. Despite the pageantry, China's army isn't exactly ready for war. For one, a lot of that new military hardware is just knockoffs of stolen Western tech. And the average Chinese soldier is not very well equipped. He carries only about $1,500 worth of equipment. Compare that to the average US soldier, who carries $18,000 worth of equipment. Also, China has no seasoned Joint Command, because the military lacks combat experience. A war isn't the same as a parade. And the history of the PLA is not, shall we say, the stuff of legend. 90 years ago, on August 1st, the Chinese Communist Party set up a guerrilla force called the People's Liberation Army, the PLA. It barely survived its first 15 years, and then pretty much sat out World War II. It let the Chinese army controlled by the KMT government fight the Japanese. After the war, the PLA started a civil war by attacking the weakened KMT army. It won, forcing the Chinese government to flee to Taiwan. This is what Mao Zedong meant when he said the Communist Party liberated China. It was straight out of the art of war. Let your enemy fight another enemy. And when he's tired, sucker punch! What's that, Shelley? Sucker punch is not in the art of war. Well, I was just paraphrasing. Anyway, then there was the Korean War, where Mao favored the strategy of another great military leader, Zap Brannigan. Yes, Mao threw wave after wave of his own men at American troops, succeeding in killing 10 of his own PLA soldiers for every one American they killed. But that was just one of the many shining victories for the PLA. There was also the early 1950s, when they killed a bunch of people in Tibet so they could claim Tibet had been a part of Chinese territory since ancient times. And then there was the time in 1989, when PLA troops crushed all those students in Tiananmen Square. But the most damning weakness for the PLA is that it is, and always has been, primarily a political tool, rather than a fighting force. Buried in this week's hour-plus-long military parade was the real message Xi wanted to give to troops. All comrades, commanders and soldiers of the PLA, you should unswervingly follow the absolute leadership of the Communist Party of China. Listen to the directions set by the Party, and follow its command. Wherever the Party points, and you shall go to battle. And there's something just a little too spot on about that. This photo shows the troops carrying the flags of the PLA, the People's Republic of China, and the Communist Party. You see, technically, the Chinese military doesn't belong to the government of China. It belongs to the Communist Party of China. That's why they're also carrying the communist hammer and sickle. It would be like if the Republican Party, or the Democratic Party, whichever one you dislike more, had its very own army, and that army was loyal to the Party before the nation or the people. Well, that's these guys. If you noticed in an earlier clip of the parade, Xi called all of the soldiers comrades, and they all called him chairman. Instead of making the PLA China's national army, Mao Zedong kept it as the Communist Party's army, because the most important thing was that they be loyal to him. And Xi Jinping is carrying out that legacy. The PLA is supposed to be loyal to the Communist Party, and thus to Xi Jinping, the head of the Communist Party. The parade happens ahead of a major meeting of the Communist Party later this year, the 19th Party Congress. You see, Xi Jinping isn't trying to send a message to foreign countries that the Party's military is powerful. Xi is sending a message to the Party itself that the military is powerful, and he controls it. This is useful information in case anyone in the Party was thinking of maybe trying to oppose him. As longtime viewers know, Xi is in the middle of a life-or-death struggle for control of the Communist Party, with the faction tied together loosely by former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin. You know, loosely. Like the way the skin hangs off his face. At the 19th Party Congress this November, several positions in top Party leadership will open up as officials retire. Xi wants to ensure that the Jiang faction people are out, and that his own people are in. Xi also will most likely not name a successor for himself, implying that he'd like to stay on a little longer than others might feel comfortable with. And having a strong military right under his thumb might make his opposition think twice about arguing. Now part of the reason Xi has done this is because Jiang had way more power over the Party than Xi did. If Xi did not amass power for himself, he would have suffered the same fate as former leader Hu Jintao, surrounded and crippled by the Jiang faction. Or possibly an even worse fate. In 2012, ahead of the previous Party Congress, there were widespread rumors of an attempted coup from members of Jiang's faction that would have replaced Xi Jinping with one of their own. But is holding a military parade and dressing up in a combat uniform a sign that Xi Jinping now has ultimate control over the Party? Or is it just giving people Xi fatigue? We'll find out at this November's Party Congress. It'll be less of a party than the name suggests. And coming up, we'll take you south of the border. Like really far south. Venezuela. By way of China. Well, that military parade really was something else. I wonder what else Xi Jinping had to say. Resolutely visit the website of hostile foreign force Chris Chappell at ChinaUncensored.tv for full half-hour episodes every week.