The Chinese People's Liberation Army (Chinese, Zhongguo Renmin Jiefang Jun, abbreviated by VBA or PLA for the internationally popular English name People's Liberation Army) has according to official figures, around 2.5 million soldiers, the largest army in the world . The collective command of the armed forces shall exercise the Central Military Commission, whose chairman of the current President is Hu Jintao. In contrast, the defense minister exerts more representative and administrative functions.

The People's Liberation Army, together with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the state apparatus, one of the three pillars of the Chinese state. From 1927 until the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 was called Red Army. Liberation is the Chinese Communists after the date of its takeover on 1 October 1949. From the 1960s, the Chinese have been called from the VBA to learn.

The central concept of Chinese military strategy is the "active defense". It means that China itself does not open or fighting aggressive wars leads. This principle of military operations will only be justified if they meet the national sovereignty or the territory of the People's Republic of defense. Attacks are therefore permissible only if China itself has been attacked before. However, it is not clearly defined what is viewed as an attack. So was the invasion of Vietnam in 1979 as a "counter-attack to defend itself" justified.

The People's Republic of China has 9,218 military planes, 13,200 tanks and armored vehicles, 29,060 artillery systems, 18,500 anti-missile systems and 284 marine units.

Since 1964, China is in possession of nuclear weapons. They were to the 90s nuclear tests in Xinjiang in the border area of Tibet. The People's Republic has since 1964 44 nuclear tests conducted. Of the 21 underground tests, the last in the year 1996. The last test was above of China in 1980, carried out after the UK as early as 1963, the USSR and the U.S. due to the increased global radioactive background level in a partial agreement had undertaken to stop, no further nuclear tests in the atmosphere, under water or in outer space carried out.

Arms trade and defense industry

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) that belonged to China during the last decade of the world's three largest arms importers; be by far the largest supplier is Russia (estimated arms imports with a value of 3 billion U.S. Dollar in 2005). An estimated 95 percent of the imported weapons come from there. In second place is Israel. However, limiting the Israeli Parliament in 2005 arms exports to China clearly one. For several years, increasingly since 2004, divided the former VBA own military industry enterprises in the civilian sector. The Chinese defense industry is in comparison to Western countries, largely underdeveloped, and only in some segments, such as ballistic missiles, capable of comparable performance. China is currently in no case completely independent development of a weapon system successfully, without a greater reliance on foreign technology back. The production of a number of sophisticated weapons is only through the import of components, semi-finished products or raw materials possible. For this reason, in addition to imports remain licensed productions and joint ventures are the main source for China's armaments.

Overall, it can be in the modernization of weapons systems to focus on increasing the radius of action primarily at Air Force, naval and missile forces, as well as communications and air defense noted during the ground-based weapon systems significantly subordinated position.

The Chinese economic modernization and supported mergers in the defense industry, particularly in the fields of space technology, aircraft and shipbuilding. The development of metal and electronics industry is at least partly under armaments policy perspective.

An important goal of foreign policy is the abolition of the 1989 EU arms embargo.

China is also weapons exporter. The U.S. Department of Defense estimates that annual arms worth about 600 million U.S. Dollar to be sold. In the years 2002 to 2006, China was the eighth largest arms exporter in the world with an export volume of around 2.1 billion U.S. Dollar. China has several international agreements to stop the trafficking of NBC weapons have joined, but the majority of agreements to control trade in conventional weapons opposed. Apart from the state arms export, there are numerous illegal arms dealers, so that the world numerous irregular armed organizations and terrorist groups with Chinese weapons are equipped.