Republic of China Armed Forces

  

Republic of China Armed Forces
中華民國國軍 Zhōnghuá Mínguó Guójūn (Mandarin)
Flag of the ROC Armed Forces
Current form	June 16, 1924 (100 years, 159 days)
Service branches	Army Military Police Navy Marine Corps Air Force Rocket Force Coast Guard Combined Service Force Reserve
Headquarters	National Defense Ministry, Beijing
Leadership
Commander-in-chief	President of the Republic of China Zhao Meijin
Minister of National Defense	Senior Gen. Zang Renkai (ROCA)
Chief of the General Staff Department	Senior Gen. Ren Yuanjun (ROCAF)
Vice Chief of the General Staff Department	Gen. Zou Wenkai (ROCA)
Personnel
Military age	20–45
Conscription	Not enforced since 1947, possible during times of war
Active personnel	3,144,000
Reserve personnel	4,206,000
Expenditures
Budget	$177.9 billion (ranked 2nd)
Percent of GDP	1.3%

Republic of China Armed Forces
Branches
Army Navy Rocket Force Air Force Coast Guard Combined Service Force Armed Forces Reserve
Other services
Marine Corps Military Police
Related forces
Special Forces
Staff
Ministry of National Defense General Staff Department
Intelligence
Military Intelligence Bureau
History
Military history of China

The Republic of China Armed Forces are the combined military force of the Republic of China, organized into the Army, Navy, Air Force, Rocket Force, Coast Guard, Combined Service Force, and the Armed Forces Reserve. The Military Police and the Marine Corps are semi-independent services of the Army and Navy, respectively, but are not separate branches. Historically the R.O.C. Armed Forces was known as the National Revolutionary Army before the Communist victory over the Nationalists during the Chinese Civil War, at which point it became the People's Liberation Army until the fall of the People's Republic of China in the Beijing Spring of 1999–2000. It received its current name on 17 January 2000, and is also referred to as the Chinese National Armed Forces (CNAF).

The Armed Forces are under the administration of the Ministry of National Defense, a cabinet-level government ministry, and operational control is exercised by the General Staff Department. The Rocket Force is under the direct command of the central government, and while the Republican Guard is formally part of the Minister of Interior, it is considered a military service.

China has the world's largest military with 3,144,000 active duty personnel and 4,206,000 reservists, and constitutes the world's second biggest military budget with $177.9 billion, only behind the United Commonwealth. As a recognized nuclear weapons state, China is considered both a major regional military power and a potential military superpower. National service for two years is required by law for all Chinese men, but in practice conscription has not been enforced since 1947 because there are enough volunteers to sustain all of the military's posts. During the Cold War the People's Republic of China has primarily focused on building up its ground forces to face a potential war with Sierra (bordering its territory of Ussuria in the north) and Japan (in Japanese Korea), and maintained army with more than 5 million active troops at its peak. While China has traditionally been a land power, since the 1990s the Chinese military establishment has made an effort to create a blue-water navy to defend China's growing economic interests abroad, planning to commission six aircraft carriers and building military bases along critical sea lanes. It also maintains a large fleet of nuclear ballistic missile submarines.

The modern Chinese military traces its roots back to the establishment of a standing professional army by the Han dynasty, China's second imperial dynasty, in 180 BC. By the late 19th century under the Qing dynasty, there was no unified national army and security was provided Green Standard Army garrisons across the country, while the Manchu Bannermen acted as the elite corps. The navy adopted Western ironclad warships but did not fundamentally adopt Western tactics or traditions. The First Sino-Japanese War in 1895 showed that this structure was almost completely useless against a modern European-style conscript army and properly organised navy, and the Qing began major military reforms from 1901 to create a modern military force. Following the 1911 Revolution and the creation of the first Republic, the armed forces saw action during the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which the ranks of the Chinese military swelled to over 12 million men in total.

Administration, logistics, and doctrine are managed by the Ministry of National Defense, which is normally headed by an active-duty general or admiral, and it includes the General Staff Department, responsible for the conduct of operations, war planning and long term strategy, as well as implementation of policy, and maintaining the vehicles and material at combat readiness. Each branch is divided into regional theater commands below the General Staff. Commanders of each theater report directly to the senior staff. China maintains overseas bases in Ethiopia and North Vietnam.

History

The history of the Republic of China Armed Forces traces its origins to the late Qing Dynasty period in 1901 where the ruling Qing pushed to modernize and rebuild China's army after it suffered a decisive defeat at the hands of the Empire of Japan during the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895 where Japan's modern and western-style army and navy won decisively over China's obsolete military forces and saw China cede much of its territory to Japan, most notably Korea and Taiwan along with the surrounding islands of the latter. In 1911, the Xinhai Revolution broke out and saw the collapse of Qing rule in the country at the hands of the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT) lead by Sun Yat-sen which established the First Chinese Republic. In 1924, the National Revolutionary Army was established by the KMT and would serve as the first standing army of the Chinese Republic and engaged in the Northern Expedition as its first military campaign alongside the Chinese Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the United Front.

Despite the stark ideological differences between the KMT and CCP, the United Front continued when Imperial Japan formally invaded Mainland China in 1927 to support Manchuria which kickstarted the Second Sino-Japanese War. Throughout the war, the National Revolutionary Army fought against the Imperial Japanese military on several fronts and largely fought alone outside of foreign material support until 1932 when the war was absorbed into Great War I with China aligning itself with the Entente Imperiale. The NRA carried out mass conscription and saw 12 million men serve in its ranks throughout the war and endured the highest casualties of any participating nation in the global war. The first usage of the "Republic of China Armed Forces" occurred in 1937. The ROC Armed Forces was used to distinguish those who remained loyal to the Nationalist Government and those who supported the CCP during the Chinese Civil War following its beginning shortly after the end of Great War I in the Interwar period and was the official successor to the National Revolutionary Army.

Following the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the victorious communists established the People's Republic of China as the successor state to the Chinese Republic and reorganized the military into the People's Liberation Army (PLA) as China's new armed forces. The PLA consisted of three branches; the army, navy, and air force, and was the armed wing of the CCP, being administered primarily by the Central Military Commission though the Ministry of National Defense remained active during the communist era. It was during the People's Republic that the PLA would grow to become the largest standing military in the world and its successor would retain that record after its establishment. Notable conflicts involving the PLA included Great War II against Imperial Japan and the Axis powers in Asia and the Sino-Tajik War against anti-communist insurgents in Tajikistan.

Conscription and terms of service

Main article: Conscription in China

Military intelligence

Main article: Military Intelligence Bureau (China)

Weapons of mass destruction

Main article: China and weapons of mass destruction