China’s PLA commanders come out in force as troops chase perfect response to US and Nato

Name: PLA forces conduct drill in Tibet: experts call it a warning to China’s neighbour India
Uploaded: 2021-09-12T00:00:28.000Z
Duration: 1 min 27 s
Description: PLA forces conduct drill in Tibet: experts call it a warning to China’s neighbour India

Nearly 200 senior military commanders gathered for annual exercise at Zhurihe training base to inspect combat readiness and standardise drill evaluations

Training included intensive session to rectify deficiencies exposed in recent confrontational drills with the ‘blue army’, which simulates US and Nato commands

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Combined PLA forces took part in a three-day training exercise from September 7 at the Zhurihe training base in Inner Mongolia. Photo: Handout

Amber Wang

Published: 8:00am, 12 Sep 2021Updated: 10:45pm, 12 Sep 2021

Chinese People’s Liberation Army commanders assembled in numbers not seen in three years as troops focused on quick responses to problems at a key annual exercise this week, as part of China’s continued efforts to upgrade combat readiness and modernise its armed forces.

Nearly 200 senior military commanders from all theatres – and key regions such as Xinjiang and Tibet, as well as the Beijing garrison – took part in the three-day combined forces exercise from Tuesday at the Zhurihe base in Inner Mongolia, the PLA’s most well-known and Asia’s largest military training base.

The last time there was such a big gathering of commanders was during the PLA’s ground forces 2018 training session in Korla, in the far-western region of Xinjiang.

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PLA forces conduct drill in Tibet: experts call it a warning to China’s neighbour India

This week’s exercise added an intensive session to rectify deficiencies exposed in confrontational drills more than a month ago with the “blue army” – which simulates an “opposing force” adopting a command system and tactics similar to those used by the US and Nato – with senior PLA commanders inspecting the outcome.

The PLA’s “blue army”, set up in 2012, conducts regular confrontational drills with the “red army” – drawn from around the country – to simulate battle conditions.

“The core purpose of organising such a large-scale training camp is to focus on actual combat training, to standardise the systematic training methods of the new era,” Tang Fei, director of the Training Bureau of Army Staff, told state broadcaster CCTV.

Tang said changes had to be made to previous training modules, so as to strengthen problem-solving capabilities. “[This time] the troops completed the rectification at the base after finding the problems, and then carried out inspection and assessment … improving further through further combat,” he said.