Chinese Militia and its state of readiness

The Chinese militia is literally a militia but organized, equiped and funded my the government.

The PAP is more similiar to the National Guard since they have the same functions as an internal and external military force. PAP like the National Guard both get the call to respond to natural disasters, to restore order when local police are not enough and to conduct opperations abroad. Case in point LA and Tibet riots hurricane Katrina and Sichuan earthquake they both brought in first before their respective armies. PAP does peacekeeping in places like Hatiti and Africa. The Guard conducting opperations along side US force in Iraq and Afganastan.

ABC78 said:

The Chinese militia is literally a militia but organized, equiped and funded my the government.

The PAP is more similiar to the National Guard since they have the same functions as an internal and external military force. PAP like the National Guard both get the call to respond to natural disasters, to restore order when local police are not enough and to conduct opperations abroad. Case in point LA and Tibet riots hurricane Katrina and Sichuan earthquake they both brought in first before their respective armies. PAP does peacekeeping in places like Hatiti and Africa. The Guard conducting opperations along side US force in Iraq and Afganastan.

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The closest US equivalent to the PAP was the US Constabulary during the occupation of Germany after WWII. The Militia as it stands isn't so dissimilar to what the US had before the formation of the National Guard system.

i would say that in the US their is no militia because all militia is mampower with very very little training in combat and the us has non of those

Actually there might bear no resemblance to any of the units or type of units in China to US because both countries shared very different military strategies and policy, thus it is not wise to try to find a similarity between the Chinese and US.

I believe that the armed police unit actually came into light when China notice that she was ill equipped with internal unrest and every time any of this happen, she had to send in her army. It was not nice internationally and politically, thus the armed police is needed. In actual fact, armed police function very much like a full fledge military unit and are actually soldiers instead of policemen.

As for the militia, I believe that they are renmants of the old people's war strategy. They are quite important in time of war because they are needed to ensure that the backline is secured and stable. However all this was when the war was in China mainland itself.

For US, she didn't really need the militia at all, because war will not happen in US, she will fight in other people's land (Afanganistan, Iraq, etc) and in these places, militia would have stand no chance at all due to the lack of training and basically armed secondline weapons.

To actually understand the strategy of China and her militia policy, we must as understand China's geographical location. She was surrounded by neighbours that are either militarily on par or stronger than herself (Please don't turn this to a political discussion, I am just pointing out a point and not wanting to change it to a what vs what type of discussion), therefore she would really need a large militia to fight a war that most likely would occur in her own land. and also her policy of never to attack any soverign nations, would most like see her not stepping foot in another nation in near future unless she had all the reason to believe that the nation was causing her problem with whatever things.

This and the strategy that was set by Mao Zedong during WWII, "Using Space in exchange Time), huge militia was needed. They serve to slow down and wear out opponents before the regulars gave enemy a final blow.

This strategy is not needed for US, like it or not they have the military edge over most nations (if not all) and she was surrounded by countries that are way behind her in all aspect (Mexico, Cuba, etc). Thus there really is no need for militia.

Actually, there are plenty of militia in the US. It's just that they're not necessarily affiliated with the federal government.

Canada also has a militia: the reserves. Basically, think of militia as part-time soldiers. This would be true, IMO, in both Canada, China, and the US.

solarz said:

Actually, there are plenty of militia in the US. It's just that they're not necessarily affiliated with the federal government.

Canada also has a militia: the reserves. Basically, think of militia as part-time soldiers. This would be true, IMO, in both Canada, China, and the US.

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I agreed with you to a certain extent. Militia are part time soldiers, yes. But I would not agreed with you in the terms militia as reserve. I would believe that Reserve in most countries (including Canada) made up of units of well trained soldiers. They are not necessary regulars but at one point of time receive good training. Such was the case for Singapore, Israel and Taiwan, these trained soldiers are placed in the army reserve unit to be called up to arms when the time come and could be sent overseas for operations.

China's militia on the other hand normally do not get call to go overseas and their main purpose still maintained at the old People's War strategy.

So when we look into this context, actually the militia of the western countries and the militia in China are effectively different element and not really the same thing, although they shared the same name.

Who says militia has to receiver poor training? Who says Chinese militia are poorly trained?

Unless Canada officially declares war, the army is not allowed to order reserve units into combat. However, reserve soldiers certainly can and do volunteer for missions.

Here's what wikipedia has to say about militia:

solarz said:

Who says militia has to receiver poor training? Who says Chinese militia are poorly trained?

Unless Canada officially declares war, the army is not allowed to order reserve units into combat. However, reserve soldiers certainly can and do volunteer for missions.

Here's what wikipedia has to say about militia:

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I don't know about Canada or most of the other countries for the matter, but I never say militia has to receive poor training in general. What I am saying is China militia might not be as well trained as compared to her regular forces. I mean, look at the number of days they receive training per year and you would get the idea of how experience they are.

Plus, China had her own reserve (800000 strong in actual fact), these are not militia and please don't mistaken them as militia.

rhino123 said:

I don't know about Canada or most of the other countries for the matter, but I never say militia has to receive poor training in general. What I am saying is China militia might not be as well trained as compared to her regular forces. I mean, look at the number of days they receive training per year and you would get the idea of how experience they are.

Plus, China had her own reserve (800000 strong in actual fact), these are not militia and please don't mistaken them as militia.

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Well of course militia aren't as well trained as the regular army. That's the whole point, since they're part time.

In any case, the current chinese militia comes from the tradition of communist guerilla militia back in the war against the Japanese. In fact, you could say that the whole idea of militia is a part of the People's War doctrine.

Considering that China is currently at peace, I doubt anybody in the government pays much attention to the readiness of the militia. After all, like some other poster said, it would take a catastrophic collapse of the PLA in order for the militia to be sent to the front lines.

It's probably more accurate to describe the militia as a socio-political organization, designed to continue a time-honored tradition, impart self and group discipline, and to improve one's "political stance".

dont know about militias in any other country but as a reservists in the CF i can say that after 4-5 years of service a reservist is as good as a reg force soldier. i have a buddy who is already over in afghanistan and back when we did our basic training together i beat him in virtually everything.