According to the government, this represents "only" 1.2% of its GDP. In March, Beijing again announced an increase of 7.2%, the largest increase since 2019 (95 billion yuan, the equivalent of $14 billion or €13 billion). The navy's exponential growthĪt the same time, the defense budget has sharply increased. Personnel in the upper echelons were reduced by 25%, and the number of non-combat units by almost half. According to the Defense White Paper, which was published by Beijing in 2019, the number of personnel was reduced by 300,000 so that the active force is maintained at 2 million men. The PLA's four headquarters – the general staff and the departments of policy, logistics and armaments – were dismantled in 2016 and reorganized into 15 units, which now report directly to the CMC, and therefore to Xi. Some 13,000 military personnel were disciplined. Subsequently, more than 70 general officers were dismissed for corruption. As early as 2014, he had two generals arrested, Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong, the vice chairmen of the Central Military Commission (CMC) – the highest authority of national defense, which he had been chairing for two years at the time. "The party commands the guns," said Xi, quoting Mao Zedong. Corruption is endemic, it is perceived as a state within the state and the last fight led by its troops, in Vietnam in 1979, ended in failure. This reformist drive has been facilitated by the flaws of which the PLA is currently accused. Since his arrival as the head of the Chinese Communist Party in the fall of 2012, Xi has taken control of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). China asserts its desire to seize, by force if necessary, the island whose sovereignty it claims, in the name of "national reunification." But does its army have the capacity to do so? This message was reflected in Beijing's military maneuvers around Taiwan in early April, in response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen's visit to the United States. "We must dare to fight," Chinese President Xi Jinping hammered home to generals in March. Tensions around the island have never been so high. InvestigationFor a decade, Beijing has strengthened all the components of its army, which Chinese President Xi Jinping has asked to prepare for an offensive. Is the Chinese army really ready to attack Taiwan? By Frédéric Lemaître (Taipei, special envoy) and Elise Vincent Published on June 4, 2023, at 12:00 pm (Paris)
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