BEIJING, (Reuters) – China’s military thinking is outmoded and should learn from others, especially the United States, when it comes to modernising its vast armed forces, a leading armed forces newspaper said yesterday.
A commentary in the Liberation Army Daily said modernising China’s military was central to reforms which have seen heavy investment in high-tech weapons like advanced fighter jets.
China has been slimming down its military, the world’s largest by number, for the past few years, trying to build a more effective force to face U.S.-supplied Taiwan and Japan, as well as the United States itself.
But this needs creativity and more open thinking, the newspaper said, which could be a problem.
“As there is a rather large influence of conservative thinking in traditional Chinese culture, the task of renewing the culture and thinking of our military will be extremely arduous,” it wrote.
China had to “audaciously learn from the experience of the information cultures of foreign militaries”, it said.
“History and reality have shown again and again that a country which does not have a world view is a backward one. A military which lacks global vision is one without hope.”
The United States was a good example to follow in two regards, it added.
The U.S. military buys technology already available on the open market when it can, such as global positioning systems used in the Gulf War, a cheaper and more practical method than trying to develop such equipment itself, the commentary said.
