SHANGHAI: Weaknesses in China’s military training pose a threat to the country’s ability to fight and win a war, China’s official military newspaper said yesterday.
China’s military authority has sent a document to military units detailing 40 weaknesses in current training methods, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Daily said in a front-page story.
“These problems reflect shortcomings and weak-points in the makeup of our military fighting force. If they are not promptly dealt with, then they will certainly affect and hinder our army’s ability to go to war,” the paper said, citing the PLA general staff headquarters.
President Xi Jinping has been pushing to strengthen the fighting ability of China’s 2.3 million-strong armed forces, the world’s largest, and stepping up efforts to modernize forces that are projecting power across disputed waters in the East and South China Seas.
The country’s armed forces came under fire earlier this year from serving and retired Chinese officers and state media who questioned whether the force was too corrupt to win a war.
The military newspaper said China needed to find a cure for the “peace disease” affecting its training regime to ensure the armed forces could master the ability to win a real conflict.
North Korea warns of rupture in
talks with South
SEOUL: North Korea’s state media warned yesterday of a rupture in dialogue with rival South Korea over the launch of anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets that sparked a brief cross-border exchange of fire.
The two Koreas had agreed a week earlier to work on resuming a formal high-level dialogue that has effectively been suspended for seven months, raising hopes of a thaw in strained relations.
But they traded heavy machine-gun fire across their border Friday when North Korean troops tried to shoot down balloons carrying leaflets launched by South Korean activists.
Some rounds fell on the southern side of the border, which then responded with high-calibre machine gun fire.
Agencies
