The Chinese Ministry of National Defense recently highlighted growing attention to new approaches to People’s Liberation Army training as well as joint nation participation in a number of recent exercises.

At a Ministry of National Defence (MND) press conference on 27 June, Senior Colonel Wu Qian, Director General of the Information Office and spokesperson for the ministry observed: ‘Since the beginning of this year, with a focus on achieving its centenary goal and improving combat readiness, the PLA has vigorously advanced training in a systematic approach, with technological application and through military skill contests, to make steady progress in realistic training and combat capabilities.’... Continues below

This analysis article originally appeared in July's Decisive Edge Military Training Newsletter.

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He outlined four main themes within that training approach. 

First, Wu pointed to a ‘consolidated foundation for training’, stating: ‘By conducting specialised teaching, integrated training, simulation training and standardised assessment, the military has striven for new transformation and development of basic training to lay the foundation for fighting and winning wars.’

As the second theme, he cited strengthening ‘realistic training for real combat’, which he elaborated as ‘more frequently carried out in the open sea, on plateaus, in alpine regions, deserts and forests and on difficult and complex subjects and under extreme conditions for greater effectiveness’.

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Thirdly Wu highlighted improvement in training using new technologies, claiming that quality and efficacy had been enhanced with innovative methods including ‘technology+’, ‘scientist+’, and ‘cyber+’, integration of new equipment and forces into the training system and wider use of bases, simulators and online platforms.

Finally, he identified ‘bolstered exchanges with foreign militaries on military training’.

This included exercises such as Steppe Partner, Falcon Shield and Sayan Range March, with Wu crediting these types of events with stepping up communication and deepening mutual trust with foreign militaries and upgrading international cooperation on military training.

Steppe Partner 2024 was a joint China-Mongolia event conducted in early May in the latter country’s Dornogovi Province and represented the first ever joint training between the armies of the two nations. The event reportedly included armoured vehicle joint operation and live-fire exercises.

Falcon Shield 2024 was conducted between Chinese and UAE air forces from late June to late July, while Sayan Range March was a snowfield combat and march competition held in Russia in early April.

In addition, on 7 July, the MND further announced that Chinese and Belarusian forces were preparing to conduct a joint army training exercise in mid-July near Brest, Belarus.

This announcement indicated that the event, Eagle Assault 2024, was in accordance with mutual agreements between the two countries and would focus on ‘counter-terrorism operations’, with soldiers from both countries participating in mixed-team exercises to carry out hostage rescue operations.

According to a description released by the Belarus MoD, tactical challenges addressed in the training included night landings, overcoming water obstacles and conducting operations in a populated area.

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The release quoted the Commander of the Belarus Special Operations Forces, Maj Gen Vadim Denisenko: ‘The situation in the world is complicated, so, having learnt new forms and ways of conducting tactical tasks, we will work out all these issues during the exercises. Taking into account everything new that has been learnt in recent years, we will introduce and see how a joint unit will conduct operations.’

He added: ‘At the same time, the units will be combined at certain stages; there will be no separate Chinese unit or separate Belarusian unit – they will operate together.’

Not surprisingly, joint training between China and Belarus has drawn the attention of NATO members.

In his 11 July press conference at the closing of the 2024 NATO Summit in Washington, DC, the alliance’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was asked about the exercise, describing it as ‘part of a pattern that just confirms how authoritarian regimes are aligning more and more and also how China is coming closer to NATO, in Europe, in Africa, in the Arctic and elsewhere.

‘So this fits into the pattern we have seen, also with a closer alignment between China and Russia but now also China and Belarus. And of course it also fits into the pattern of authoritarian powers working closely together in supporting Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, a neighbour to Belarus. We need to remember what kind of regimes we are speaking about. We are speaking about authoritarian regimes.’

Keeping a close eye on who China is training with, and for what kinds of mission, will be high on the agenda of many NATO military planners, and this activity will doubtless influence the alliance’s own training and operational priorities.

Other articles in this newsletter:

Robotic readiness – how the US Army is training for the large UGV era

USAF to face F-22 training gap after divesting part of fleet

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