Million-Strong Troop Reduction

Entering the 1980s, Party and state leaders correctly foresaw that a world war would not break out for the time being and that peace and development were the themes of the age. On this judgment China adjusted its guiding thinking on national defense, shifting from preparing for an early, large-scale nuclear war to a track of peacetime construction. Since 1949 the People’s Liberation Army had been large, with bloated organizations, excess personnel and low efficiency, and its total strength stood at over four million. In June 1985 an enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission was held in Beijing, where Deng Xiaoping announced that the PLA would reduce its strength by one million. Over the next two years the army abolished or merged a large number of organizations at army level and above, merged the original eleven military regions into seven, reorganized armies into group armies, trimmed headquarters and non-combat personnel, and transferred some units to local authorities. By 1987 the reduction was basically complete, with total strength down to about 3.2 million. It streamlined the structure, improved the organization and raised combat capability, putting the PLA on a path to a lean force with Chinese characteristics and speeding its revolutionization, modernization and regularization. The cuts also lightened the state’s economic burden, helped concentrate efforts on economic construction and showed the world China’s sincerity in safeguarding peace. In 1988 the PLA restored its system of military ranks. China later made further reductions in 1997, 2003 and 2015, slimming the force toward a lean, joint and efficient military.