According to Global Times, at a regular press conference of the Chinese Ministry of Defense on November 26th, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman and senior colonel Ren Guoqiang revealed that China’s military has basically achieved mechanization and has made significant progress in information construction. This is the first time that China’s Ministry of Defense has confirmed this news, which indicates that the milestones of China’s national defense and military construction have been reached.
In response to a question on how to understand the goal of “ensuring the realization of the Chinese army’s centennial by 2027”, Ren said, “The realization of the centennial goal requires accelerating the integration and development of mechanization and informatization. Through long-term efforts, our military has basically achieved mechanization, and significant progress has been made in information construction. With the accelerated evolution of warfare patterns, building an intelligent military system has become a major trend in world military development. The evolution of warfare patterns and our military’s own development practices determine that we need to accurately grasp the contemporary connotation of national defense and military modernization, accelerate the integration of mechanized informationization and intelligent development, and seize the initiative of the world’s military revolution.”
Ren Guoqiang also said that the international strategic landscape has already undergone profound adjustments, China faces a complex and serious security situation, national defense and military modernization needs and possible contradictions are still relatively prominent, which requires high-quality development in the first place, improve the operational efficiency of the military system and the efficiency of the use of defense resources.
In October 2015, the Chinese government announced its goal of reforming the Chinese military, which calls for basic mechanization to be completed in five years. In the same year, military expert Ma Dingsheng judged that the September 3 military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the victory against Japanese aggression showed that the Chinese military’s mechanization level had surpassed that of Russia and was approaching that of the United States.