| |
China adheres to the principle of having
all people engaged in national defense with an aim at giving full play
to the overall advantages of the present-day people's war so as to promote
the national defense mobilization and reserve force building on the basis
of the overall national strength.
Mobilization of National Economy
As an important component of the national defense building and economic
construction, China's economic mobilization follows the strategic thinking
of soldiers and the people being the foundation for victory and the strategic
concept of the people's war.
The mobilization of national economy refers to activities which improve,
in a planned and organized way, the emergency reaction capabilities of
national economy for national security. In peacetime, as an important
measure to build up the economic potentials for national defense and to
cope with contingencies, the mobilization of national economy balances
the proportion of the permanent power of the defense economy to the national
economy, and constitutes a powerful deterrence to war. In wartime, the
mobilization of national economy is an important guarantee to transfer
the national defense economic potentials into national defense capabilities
to win the war by way of a rapid and orderly shift of the national economic
system from a peacetime state to a wartime state. The mobilization of
national economy includes mobilizations in the areas of industry, agriculture,
communication and transport, post and telecommunications, science and
technology, medical care and health, urban construction, commerce and
trade, and finance. The capacity to mobilize national economy is an important
indicator of the level of both national defense modernization and the
overall national strength.
Under the leadership of the State Council and CMC, the PRC Development
and Reform Commission is responsible for the mobilization of national
economy. The National Economy Mobilization Office is the administrative
organ which is primarily responsible for: organizing and implementing
the mobilization of national economy throughout the country; coordinating
relations between the military and economic work, between government organizations
and military systems and between the Central Government and the local
governments in the process of mobilization; properly combining peacetime
needs with wartime needs and integrating military purposes with civilian
ones in the development of national economy; improving the mechanism for
mobilization of national economy and the capabilities to shift from peacetime
to wartime footing. All services and arms of the PLA and all military
area commands as well as the ministries and commissions concerned under
the State Council along with all provinces (including autonomous regions
and municipalities directly under the Central Government) have set up
corresponding offices for mobilization of national economy.
China initially established a system for mobilization of national economy
after the founding of New China in 1949. In the 1960s and 1970s, China
undertook the construction of mobilization of national economy with preparations
against war as the primary task. In the 1980s, the national economy mobilization
began transformation in four fields: transformation from purely serving
the war demands to serving both national defense and economic construction,
focusing on the combination of both military effectiveness and economic
efficiency; transformation from playing a unitary administrative role
under the planned economy to that of an overall regulation and control
under the socialist market economy to gradually form a management mechanism
using multiple means related to law, economy and administration; transformation
from building the military production capacity in the pre-war state to
enhancing the converting ability from peacetime production to wartime
production with the emphasis on building up economic potentials for national
defense; and transformation from general mobilization preparations to
partial mobilization preparations with priority given to rapid mobilization
against contingencies in major directions and key areas.
At the new historical stage, following the principles of combining peacetime
needs with wartime needs and having military and civilian purposes compatible
with each other while reserving the military capabilities in civilian
potentials, China's national economy mobilization makes great progress
in the construction of national economy mobilization and steadily improves
the capacity of national economy mobilization by observing the principles
of centralized leadership, responsibility at different levels, overall
planning, construction of key projects, long-term preparations and gradual
development. A three-level (central, provincial and prefectural) management
system to mobilize national economy has initially taken shape with the
attention paid to handling major contingencies and emergencies, thus creating
conditions, in terms of system, for national economy to turn rapidly from
peacetime production to wartime production. Making full use of advanced
information technologies, China has initially established a digital information
platform for national economy mobilization, thus improving the speed and
efficiency of turning peacetime production to wartime production. The
capability of national economy to turn peacetime production into wartime
production in 2003 was 12.44% higher than that of the previous year. The
contributions made by science and technology to national economy mobilization
rose by 3.53 percentage points compared with that of the previous year.
Civil Air Defense (CAD)
As an important part of the national defense and an important aspect
of the economic and social development, China's civil air defense (CAD)
refers to measures and actions to mobilize and organize the Chinese people
to be prepared against enemy air raids and disastrous events, and to deal
with the aftermath of enemy air raids and disastrous events. Resorting
to preventive means such as camouflage, cover and evacuation, and adopting
measures such as emergency rescue and rush-repair, the CAD serves the
purpose of securing the people's lives and property, reducing losses of
national economy and preserving the war potentials. The CAD is built and
managed strictly in accordance with the Civil Air Defense Law of the PRC.
The CAD adopts a system of joint leadership by the people's governments
and the military organs with the local people's governments and the military
organs at the county level and above exercising leadership over the CAD
work within their respective administrative areas. The basic task of the
CAD is to organize the people in CAD building in peacetime and to organize
and direct people to fight against air raids in wartime.
The CAD bases itself on making preparations against air raids under the
informationalized conditions by adhering to the guideline of long-term
preparation, construction of key projects and combination of peacetime
footing with wartime footing. In recent years, major cities throughout
the country have set up joint, streamlined and highly efficient CAD command
systems. They have made their municipal anti-air-raid plans, improved
their urban air defense (AD) early-warning-alarm networks, and sped up
the construction of the auxiliaries to the AD protection facilities while
strengthening the protection of key economic targets, the construction
of evacuation areas, and the building of specialized AD contingents among
the people. In some provinces and municipalities, the people's governments
have organized many anti-air-raid exercises, in which the AD alarm sirens
were tested. They have also carried out education in the common sense
of protection in case of air raids, and conducted training in protection
skills. Consequently, the people's AD awareness has been generally raised
and the overall urban anti-air-raid capabilities have been noticeably
improved.
The CAD actively safeguards public security based on the needs of comprehensive
national security. It has continuously improved its leading organs; established
emergency rescue systems; set up a unified, coordinated and highly-efficient
joint-action mechanism; formulated detailed backup emergency plans; provided
services for emergency rescue and disaster relief by using CAD's communication,
alarm and command facilities; organized specialized AD contingents to
undertake tasks entrusted by the people's governments, such as comprehensive
coordination, command support, and specialized rescue and assistance in
emergency rescue and disaster relief; and made every effort to set up
an integrated civil defense system that combines peacetime and wartime
footing, and is capable of carrying out both anti-air-raid and disaster-preventing
missions. Many factories, mines, enterprises and communities have established
volunteer teams for civil defense.
Mobilization of Communications for National Defense
The Chinese government attaches great importance to the mobilization
of communications for national defense. Under the leadership of the State
Council and the CMC, the state-level organs in charge of national defense
communications are responsible for national defense communications mobilization
across the country; the organs of the military area commands in charge
of national defense communications are responsible for national defense
communications mobilization within the areas under their jurisdiction;
the organs of the people's governments at the county level and above in
charge of national defense communications are responsible for national
defense communications mobilization in their respective administrative
regions; and the departments of the State Council in charge of communications
management are responsible for national defense communications mobilization
of their own industries.
In recent years, with the rapid development of national transportation
and communication and the constant improvement in the informationalization
of transportation and communication, China's national defense communications
systems have been further improved, and the capacity to mobilize national
defense communications has been greatly enhanced. Construction of the
national and local infrastructure for transportation, communication and
postal service is undertaken in pursuance of the principle of combining
peacetime needs with wartime needs, fully taking into account the defense
and military needs. Some railways, highways and ports of national defense
significance are listed as key construction projects of the state. The
support contingents and plans for transportation and communication have
played an important role in emergency rescue and disaster relief in peacetime.
In 2003, China's mileage of railways and highways in operation reached
73,000 km and 1,809,800 km respectively, including 29,700 km of expressways,
and the annual volume of freight handled at the major coastal ports reached
2.01 billion tons. In railway transportation, the management of goods
in transit has been informationalized, and the marshaling has been computerized.
In water transportation, the positioning, tracking and control of ocean
freighters have been brought into reality. In highway transportation,
the positioning, tracking and control of some heavy trucks have been realized.
In air transportation, real-time information processing has been realized
with regard to ticket booking, departure, air routes as well as freight
traffic and security monitoring. Database management has been initially
implemented in terms of basic information and communications mobilization
information concerning major railway stations, harbors, airports, airline
companies and transportation companies.
Following the publication of the Regulations on Communications for National
Defense, the State Council and the CMC promulgated the Regulations on
Mobilization of Civil Transport for National Defense in September 2003,
and the mobilization of civil transport for national defense has been
put on the track of law. Peacetime preparations of civil transport mobilization
are made in accordance with the principle of emphasizing key projects
and focusing on actual effects. In this respect, the work includes the
drafting of an overall plan for newly-built civil vehicles and related
equipment to meet the demands of national defense, acquisition of information
regarding the potentials to mobilize civil transport for national defense,
and formulation of plans for national defense mobilization. Wartime mobilization
of civil transport is conducted according to the mobilization order issued
by the President of the state. Under special circumstances in peacetime,
the mobilization of civil transport is implemented upon the decision on
mobilization of civil transport made by the State Council and the CMC.
All organizations and individuals possessing or managing civil transport
capacity are obliged by the law to fulfill their duties and responsibilities
for civil transport mobilization.
Militia Force Building
As an important component of the Chinese armed forces and the assistant
and backup forces of the PLA, the militia force is an armed organization
composed of the masses not released from their regular work. The militia
is divided into two categories - the ordinary and the primary militia.
The primary militia comprises rapid reaction detachments, infantry detachments,
specialized technical detachments and detachments with corresponding specialties.
There are now 10 million primary militia members throughout the country.
In recent years, based on the principle of controlling quantity and improving
quality, and emphasizing key components and laying good foundation, priority
has been given to the quality of the militia organizations in building
the militia force while keeping its mass and universal character. Infantry
detachments have been reduced, specialized technical detachments increased,
and technical detachments specialized in areas of AA artillery (machine-guns),
missiles, field artillery, communication, chemical defense, engineering,
reconnaissance and information reinforced. Enterprises and institutions
with corresponding specialties have established their militia detachments
with a high technological content. Also established therein are militia
detachments with specialties corresponding to different services and arms
responsible for combat and logistic support, and militia support detachments
responsible for fuel and other military supplies. The organizational structure
of the militia force has been optimized. The scientific and technological
quality of the militia force has been continuously improved, and the capability
of the militia force has been apparently enhanced for rapid mobilization
and operations.
The primary militia members aged 18-22 receive 30-40 days of military
training. The training duration for specialized technical militia members
will be extended if necessary. Upon approval by the CMC, the General Staff
Headquarters assigns military training tasks to the militia throughout
the country. Military training for militia members will be conducted collectively
at the militia military training bases in administrative regions at the
county level. In some provinces and municipalities specialized technical
training centers and people's military schools have been set up.
The nationwide militia work comes under the centralized leadership of
the State Council and the CMC. The provincial commands (garrison commands),
military sub-commands (garrison commands) and the people's armed forces
departments of counties, autonomous counties, cities and municipal districts
are responsible for militia work in the areas under their respective jurisdictions.
The people's armed forces departments at the level of townships, ethnic
townships, towns and sub-districts are responsible for militia work in
their own areas. The people's armed forces departments of enterprises
and institutions, set up in accordance with relevant provisions of the
government, are responsible for their own militia work. Enterprises and
institutions with no people's armed forces department shall designate
a department or personnel to handle their militia work.
The Suggestions on Strengthening and Improving Militia Work in Cities,
jointly issued in August 2002 by the Central Committee of the CPC, the
State Council and the CMC, defines the strategic status and role of the
urban militia force and calls for strengthening and improving the urban
militia work, so as to be prepared for winning people's wars under high-tech
conditions with cities as important bases. In consideration of local conditions
and wartime assignments undertaken by the militia, adjustments and reforms
are steadily underway with respect to urban militia work.
Reserve Force Building
As an important component of the PLA, the reserve force constitutes the
focal point of the defense reserves building. It consists of active servicemen
as its backbone and reserve officers and men as its foundation. It is
organized according to the PLA's unified organizational structure.
After more than 20 years of development, the reserve force has grown
from purely a land force into an important composite reserve force consisting
of the Army reserve, Navy reserve, Air Force reserve and the reserve of
the Second Artillery Force. The reserve force adopts the system of dual
leadership by the military and the local Party committees and governments.
The Army reserve is under the leadership of the provincial commands (garrison
commands) in peacetime, and the Navy reserve, Air Force reserve and the
reserve of the Second Artillery Force are placed under the joint leadership
and control of both the provincial commands (garrison commands) and the
Navy, Air Force and Second Artillery Force units. The reserve force is
under the command of the designated troops in active service after wartime
mobilization.
Under the new historical conditions, China persists in combining the
building of the reserve force with that of the armed forces in active
service. China improves the quality of the reserve force while enhancing
the reserves' capabilities for rapid mobilization and operations so as
to build a reserve force properly sized, reasonably structured, scientifically
organized and credibly effective. In recent years, the key aspects of
building the reserve force have been further highlighted. Combat readiness
has been enhanced and training levels have been raised step by step. Based
on the wartime chain of command, training systems linked with the active
PLA troops have been established, and on-base training, simulated training
and network training have been conducted on a wide scale.
National Defense Education
In accordance with the National Defense Education Law of the PRC, governments
and relevant departments at all levels conduct national defense educational
activities of various forms to enhance the national defense awareness
of the people. A favorable situation in national defense education has
just arisen, in which the government attaches great importance to it,
the general public provides support to it, and the people take an active
part in it.
The Central Government has set up the National Defense Education Office
while organs or offices for national defense education have been established
accordingly in provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly
under the Central Government, and in most cities and counties. Twenty-six
provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central
Government have formulated or revised their national defense education
regulations. The State National Defense Education Office has organized
the drafting of the national defense education program.
China conducts its national defense education mainly among civil servants,
young students, militia members and reservists. National defense education
is absorbed into the curricula for civil servants and Party schools of
the CPC. More than 2,500 Party schools throughout China have offered courses
on national defense education. Such educational forms as special lectures,
Military Day on camp and short-term training programs are adopted. As
a result, the awareness of government functionaries in performing national
defense duties is enhanced. National defense education has been incorporated
into the courses of all kinds of schools at different levels to provide
students with national defense knowledge and education in patriotism.
Some primary and secondary schools have also introduced activities in
the form of juvenile military schools with national defense education
as the theme. National defense education for the militia and reserve forces
is conducted in connection with political education, intensified disciplining
and military training.
In accordance with the Military Service Law of the PRC and the National
Defense Education Law of the PRC, colleges, universities, senior high
schools and their equivalents should develop their national defense education
by linking their curricula with military training. When studying at colleges
and universities, students are obliged to receive basic military training.
The PLA Student Military Training Office, together with the Ministry of
Education, has formulated a program to strengthen guidance on military
training for students throughout the country. In 2003, some 1,100 colleges
and universities and 11,500 senior high schools throughout China conducted
military training as required and more than eight million students received
such training.
On major holidays, commemoration days and military recruitment occasions,
national defense education is conducted in all parts of China in the form
of exhibitions, lectures, cultural and art performances, knowledge competitions
and military summer camps. Special columns or programs in such media as
newspapers, magazines, radio, TV and web pages are devoted to national
defense education. There are now nine provinces and municipalities that
have published newspapers or magazines on national defense education and
more than 30 regions have set up websites on national defense education.
With such platforms like cemeteries of revolutionary martyrs, revolutionary
sites, and memorial halls and museums which can be used for this purpose,
national defense education has been provided in all parts of the country
with nearly 200 million people educated every year.
|
|