Actually, I'm implying that any attempts to draw extensive conclusions of proficiency and combat readiness (along with perceptions of "political showmanship") will be made through the distorted lens of a CCTV camera.
There are some likely conclusions we can draw, such as regarding equipment (the lack of body armour in many exercises, for one of many), and incidences of what we interpret as shabby procedure, but whether we can generalize it into a larger picture is another matter. That is where I disagree.
Those are heady assumptions. Not unfair nor fully unsubstantiated, depending on how much credence you give what we see. I'll address this point in my next paragraph.
I think you are misrepresenting my position, as a matter of fact I've never thought the PLA was a peerless tier one fighting force, and one has to be blind to see underlying problems in equipment and training realism -- those are all points I've fully believed in.
I don't disagree with the general foundation of your points -- the PLA does need greater training realism, they do need to equip their soldiers better, and place emphasis on a stronger NCO corps. But I disagree with the specificity of your accusations which I do not believe we have the generalize and judge from, based on our limited and circumstantial evidence.
I'm not rationalizing poor performance in the exercises due to the current units being drawn from the less elite units, that was a point for additional consideration on top of the main fact that the exercises were designed to provide overwhelming advantages for the opfor.
I'm not sure what you mean by "the fact that the PLA is finding out now" -- are you saying they haven't found out before, meaning you're assuming these exercises are the first ones they've practiced for their B team units? Because I never mentioned anything about these exercises having been preceded by or not preceded by any similar exercises.
(And weren't you the one that said an exercise with such parameters were useless in the first place, because they were too unrealistic?)
Unfortunately that will probably require CCTV and the PLA's PR team to not have a presence.
We have pictures of PLA troops doing exercises and photo shoots that look ridiculous -- jumping through hoops of fire, SOF pretending to spar with each using dadao, mass martial arts training, and obviously (poorly) scripted statements by commanders and soldiers in CCTV reports. And I agree that does represent showmanship, but the presence of that does not mean they are not proficient in other practical areas. I'm obviously not claiming the entirety of the PLA is a well oiled war machine, I'm only saying that showmanship seen through stupid CCTV news reports and documentaries (not to mention empty headed PLA PR teams)
The above does not seek to explain deificiencies in equipment or other areas that are visually seen through pictures or news reports, and we can draw a few conclusions that pass the smell test.
Also, seeing some soldiers who look squared away and brisk in their actions is no more indicative that the entire PLA are at a similar level of professionalism, anymore than seeing some soldiers who look shabby is indicative of the entire PLA at a similar level of disrepair.
