Xi's new generals face tough military challenges post-congress

"that would be vital for a Taiwan invasion"

please can we not? can we just not.

lack one element that marked at least some of their commission predecessors: combat experience.

Chinese security forces do not lack combat experience with Chinese citizens, the security forces have gone to battle against their own Chinese citizens in Hong Kong, Western China and just recently in Shanghai and elsewhere to forcefully keep citizens inside during one of the Covid lockdowns.

Chinese security forces do not lack combat experience with Chinese citizens, the security forces have gone to battle against their own Chinese citizens in Hong Kong, Western China and just recently in Shanghai and elsewhere to forcefully keep citizens inside during one of the Covid lockdowns.

It's not the same thing. Not even close.

And one mistake of thinking (which is actually the kind of mistake I want democracies to make) is that they tend to over-estimate the capabilities of their adversaries.

The Chinese have made advancements to be sure, but we have not been sitting idly by as they develop countermeasures.

We have been devising (at least I hope so) counter-countermeasures.

And as we have seen all too clearly (and thankfully) in Ukraine, training means something. Practice means something. Attention to force protection means something.

I don't think the Chinese are as raving drunk as the Russians. But I also don't think they train as frequently or as well as the Western Democracies.

…but we have not been sitting idly by as they develop countermeasures.

Who is “we?”

Who is “we?”

(With an homage to The Big Lebowski) The Royal We.

I mean the Western Democracies of which I will be so bold as to include Taiwan and Japan (Yes, I know that stretches the definition of "West" a bit, but I'm going with it.)

Militaries of authoritarian regimes always have the same huge fatal flaw - senior officers aren't judged on their abilities, but on their loyalty...

So as we see in Russia today, Putin's incompetent yes men are trying to wage war, and failing badly...

China no doubts suffers from this same weakness...though perhaps to a lesser degree...

Yet another inflammatory article full of unnecessarily provocative language. The press seems to want WW3

Militaries of authoritarian regimes always have the same huge fatal flaw - senior officers aren't judged on their abilities, but on their loyalty...

So as we see in Russia today, Putin's incompetent yes men are trying to wage war, and failing badly..

Another consideration are the political officers. Unlike western militaries where, for example, the captain of a ship or the General commanding a division is the final authority on that ship or division, in the PLA the political officer can override any decision made by a military officer. This undermines their authority and erodes respect for the chain of command.

A factor nobody has mentioned is that in western volunteer militaries it is the high quality of career enlisted members that is the great advantage they have over the conscript militaries of dictatorships. In most western militaries the enlisted troops do not need to have an officer tell them what to do every minute of the day. They know their jobs and are motivated to do them so they can re-enlist and promote. As a result the better officers learn to delegate work to the lowest level competent to do the work while providing the necessary training and tools to do the job. Give the troops a job and turn them loose. Trust them and they will return the trust. You do not have that with conscript militaries. In the Russian military officers have to do hands on technical jobs that are normally accomplished by mid career enlisted troops in a western military. The conscripts do not stay around long enough to learn complex jobs and are not motivated to do them. Conscripts can only do simple tasks and look to the officers for guidance and orders. No orders, they just hang out and do nothing. They don't have the kind of responsibility to accomplish work independently that the enlisted troops in western militaries have. That is the great advantage of western militaries. The PLA will struggle to overcome that advantage.

The Chinese have made advancements to be sure, but we have not been sitting idly by as they develop countermeasures.

If you look at things like the MV-22, the Sikorsky S-97 Raider, the X37 spaceplane, Standard SM-3 Block 2, even something as seemingly simple as a reliable and durable jet engine, China is not there. They lack significant technologies. They could not build something like the old SR-71 or the X-15 and both of those are older than most of the people posting on this discussion I would bet. The Chinese have never built a supersonic strategic bomber of any kind. They have never built any manned aircraft capable of Mach 3 or greater. All of their helicopters are based on French engine and rotor technology. Most are licensed copies of French helicopters. They rely heavily on Israel and Russia for missile and electronics technologies. The Chinese do not have advanced solid fuel rocket technology. Many of their battlefield missiles are liquid fueled. They have some nice looking LHAs now but could they pull off a 450 nautical mile amphibious assault using only helicopters as the US Marines did in 2002 when they flew from ships in the North Arabian Sea over Pakistan to take an airfield called Rhino near Kandahar? They left their tanks and artillery behind and relied on airpower for close support, then moved the whole brigade by air in a matter of hours. Then they sustained them in combat using only air transport, C-130s on a dirt airstrip. I don't think China can do that yet.

Here's a video of what the CCP thinks is "peace" https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-63282230 . Way NOT to honor the laws of the country they are in by physical attacking peaceful protestors in the UK.