The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is not satisfied with its organizational structure and has been trying to adjust it to create a more effective joint war fighting capability. 2016 saw dramatic restructuring of the former four General Departments and seven Military Regions (MR), and the demobilization of 300,000 troops and support staff. The next phase includes reforms of the officer rank and grade systems, which are being implemented to address a number of systemic problems such as corruption. Less clear are the implications for how the PLA trains and fights, though the reforms are clearly part of a broader streamlining of lines of command and control. As China increases its international military engagement, another element—the mismatch between Chinese ranks and those used by most other countries, has become a driver of the reforms. [1]
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Conclusion
There is little doubt that significant changes affecting the PLA’s rank and grade systems will soon take place. The big question is how these changes will affect the way the PLA trains and fights. While interactions among senior officers with the same rank in the international military affairs arena will be immediately visible and easily monitored, the systemic changes will significantly affect officer promotions, career progressions, and organizational interactions, but they may not be discernable to the public for some time.
It is this author’s opinion that the PLA will not transition strictly to a rank system, although changes to the rank system will certainly occur. The PLA will need to maintain some type of grade system that forms the foundation of the PLA from a C2 and coordination perspective and provides a promotion ladder. It is also the author’s opinion that not all divisions and regiments will be abolished and/or integrated into brigades; however, more units, especially in the Army, will make this transition. Previous revisions to the rank system have been haphazard and only implemented slowly. As witnessed in 1988, the PLA has enacted major transitions to its grade and rank system; however, it took the PLA several years to completely incorporate all of the changes and clearly did not meet today’s requirements.