Document reveals PLA stats

China Tuesday released its biennial white paper on the country's armed forces, highlighting the protection of its overseas interests and for the first time revealing the number of its army, navy and air force servicemen.

The white paper, which was first released in 1998, is the eighth of its kind.

Yang Yujun, spokesperson of the Ministry of National Defense, told a press briefing that the white paper highlighted transparency in China's armed forces, revealing content that had never been published in previous documents.

The white paper said China's armed forces are composed of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the People's Armed Police Force and the militia.

The PLA Army mobile operational units include 18 combined corps, plus additional independent combined operational divisions (brigades), and have a total strength of 850,000.

The PLA Navy has a total strength of 235,000 officers and men, while the PLA Air Force has a total strength of 398,000.

It also for the first time revealed the code numbers of the PLA Army combined corps.

Meng Xiangqing, a senior colonel and deputy director of the Institute for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, told the Global Times that China's defense white paper had become increasingly transparent since its first edition in 1998, but it was "regrettable" that some people refuse to walk out of the shadow of the Cold War and insist on stereotypes about China's military threat.

The document said China aims to win local wars under the conditions of informationization and is intensifying military preparedness.

The document also outlined China's security challenges under the new situation.

It said some country had strengthened Asia-Pacific military alliances and military presence in the region, frequently making the situation there tenser. On issues concerning China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, some neighboring countries are taking actions that are complicating or exacerbating the situation, and Japan is making trouble over the issue of the Diaoyu Islands.

Vowing to safeguard maritime rights and interests, the PLA has intensified blue water training. Since 2007, the PLA Navy has conducted training in the distant seawaters of the Western Pacific involving over 90 ships in nearly 20 batches.

The white paper also highlighted that the security risks to China's overseas interests are on the increase.

"With the gradual integration of China's economy into the world economic system, overseas interests have become an integral component of China's national interests. Security issues are increasingly prominent, involving overseas energy and resources, strategic sea lines of communication, and Chinese nationals and legal persons overseas," it said.

As of December 2012, the Chinese Navy had dispatched 13 task groups to escort nearly 5,000 ships.

Responding to whether China will increase its military presence overseas, Wu Xihua, a senior officer from the PLA General Staff Headquarters, said the Chinese military is an important force for safeguarding world peace and regional security.

"By protecting China's overseas interests, we are not aiming to increase our overseas military presence, nor to seek hegemony," Wu said, reiterating that China has not established overseas military bases.

Li Jie, a military expert in Beijing, told the Global Times that the interests mentioned in the white paper are just one part of the country's ever-increasing overseas interests, therefore the military must keep pace in terms of its capabilities.

Li cited China's exploration of mineral resources in certain Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean seabeds, approved by the International Seabed Authority, an agency under the UN, noting that it is a future direction for the Navy in strengthening its protection of China's overseas interests.