PLA to step up war preparedness as military exercises 'have become a show'

The People's Liberation Army must rid itself of deep-seated habits, cultivated within the military by decades of peace, in order to prepare for war at a moment's notice, the mouthpiece of the armed forces reported yesterday.

The PLA Daily ran an article yesterday highlighting problems found during a military review on Wednesday of three recent drills in Inner Mongolia involving an unnamed artillery brigade with the 38th Army Corps, which is affiliated with the Beijing Military Command.

One of the problems was that the unit allocated food based on the length of the drill and number of participants, without bringing extra provisions in case of bad weather. Troops also used all the ammunition after a drill without reserving any for a possible ambush on their way back to camp.

"After a long period of peace … some troops have little awareness of war, and their exercises are no longer realistic. They have become a show," the PLA Daily warned.

This came as Xinhua reported yesterday that General Xu Qiliang , vice-chairman of the PLA's top decision-making body, the Central Military Commission, pledged to forge a number of elite troops to safeguard the country's sovereignty and safety when needed. The promise came during Xu's recent fact-finding trip to Luoyang city in Henan province and Qingdao in Shandong province, which are under the Jinan Military Command.

There have also been stepped-up calls by state media for war preparedness, after the party's new general secretary, Xi Jinping , stressed the importance of using military drills to prepare for war, and amid escalating tensions between China and Japan because of a territorial dispute in the East China Sea, as well as similar tensions in the South China Sea.