The Chinese army is expected to give officers a 40 percent pay raise in 2021. Among them, young officers stationed in Tibet, Xinjiang and border troops in the East China Sea and the South China Sea will benefit the most, said a source quoted by the South China Morning Post on Jan. 24.
The Chinese military’s pay raise of about 40 percent comes after Xi Jinping, chairman of the Communist Party’s Central Military Commission, pushed for a more modern military reform of China, a move aimed at attracting and retaining talent and giving young soldiers confidence in the ongoing reforms.
The report quoted a Beijing-based colonel, who requested anonymity, as saying the pay raise would give him up to an additional 7,000 yuan and that he was expected to earn more than 20,000 yuan a month. But he also said it was unclear when the pay raise would be implemented, which is believed to be soon.
The report points out that the biggest beneficiaries of this pay rise are the soldiers stationed in Tibet, Xinjiang, the East China Sea and the South China Sea and other borders. Another retired military officer said that retired soldiers will also receive a higher monthly pension according to their years of service.
The report cited military experts as saying that the pay raise is related to the Interim Regulations on the Administration of Active Duty Military Officers issued by the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China on Jan. 1. The regulations also cover more than 10 related rules covering personnel selection, training, promotion and benefits.
In 2015, Xi announced that China would disarm 300,000 at the conference commemorating the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
A defense white paper released by China in 2019 disclosed that “after the disarmament of 300,000, the total number of active Chinese military personnel will be reduced to 2 million, of which personnel at regiment level and above have been reduced by about a quarter, and personnel in non-combat units have been reduced by nearly half. Among them, the number of active service posts in the army has been drastically reduced, the number of active service posts in the Air Force has remained stable, and the number of active service posts in the Navy and Rocket forces has increased moderately.”
After the adjustment, the internal forces of the various services and arms have been reconstructed, showing a strong sense of combat readiness and the tendency of the forces for future military competition.