Apart from becoming an economic giant over the last few decades, China has been pumping up its military strength too. It has developed and tested nuclear and chemical weapons, in addition to deploying long range-missiles and sophisticated bombs.
On Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping had a surprise for the world. As the Chinese military put on an impressive display of men and machines in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to mark 70 years of the end of World War II, Xi stepped forward to announce, on live television, that the nation would cut the strength of its armed forces by 300,000 personnel.
While the announcement didn’t come with a time-frame, Xi insisted that China was committed to peaceful development.
"No matter how strong it becomes, China will never seek hegemony or expansion. It will never inflict its past suffering on any nation," he said. “War is like a mirror. Looking at it helps us better understand the value of peace. China will remain committed to peaceful development. We Chinese love peace."
Even though official numbers are unavailable, estimates suggest that China has a military strength of more than 2.3 million. India, on the other hand, has just over 1.3 million soldiers in active service.
This divide, though, doesn’t fully capture the edge China will continue to have over India and most of the countries in the world even after cutting down its forces by close to 13%. Apart from army personnel, China has another 4.1 million troops in paramilitary forces along with 2.3 million troops in reserve forces. India, on the other hand, has about 2.2 million troops in paramilitary forces and 2.1 million troops in military reserves.
Another important indicator of relative military strength is the number of troops relative to the total population of the country, which provides a view on the sheer size of the army in relation to civilians. Russia has more than 20 troops per 10,000 people while US has about seven, China has close to six and India has only about four military personnel per 10,000 capita. To put it in context, North Korea, has more than 300 troops in comparison while Singapore has over 185 army personnel for every 10,000 citizens.
According to data by Global Fire Power, a website that collects publicly available military data for countries around the world, China has more than 2,800 aircraft while India has only about 1,900. However, India has over 46 patrol aircrafts while China possess only 11 according to data available publicly on Central Investigation Agency’s World Factbook and other reports in the public domain.
Of course, China shares borders with 14 other countries. At 22,117 kms, it has has longest land boundary in the world. India shares a 15, 106 km border with seven countries.
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On Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping had a surprise for the world. As the Chinese military put on an impressive display of men and machines in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to mark 70 years of the end of World War II, Xi stepped forward to announce, on live television, that the nation would cut the strength of its armed forces by 300,000 personnel.
While the announcement didn’t come with a time-frame, Xi insisted that China was committed to peaceful development.
"No matter how strong it becomes, China will never seek hegemony or expansion. It will never inflict its past suffering on any nation," he said. “War is like a mirror. Looking at it helps us better understand the value of peace. China will remain committed to peaceful development. We Chinese love peace."
Even though official numbers are unavailable, estimates suggest that China has a military strength of more than 2.3 million. India, on the other hand, has just over 1.3 million soldiers in active service.
This divide, though, doesn’t fully capture the edge China will continue to have over India and most of the countries in the world even after cutting down its forces by close to 13%. Apart from army personnel, China has another 4.1 million troops in paramilitary forces along with 2.3 million troops in reserve forces. India, on the other hand, has about 2.2 million troops in paramilitary forces and 2.1 million troops in military reserves.
Another important indicator of relative military strength is the number of troops relative to the total population of the country, which provides a view on the sheer size of the army in relation to civilians. Russia has more than 20 troops per 10,000 people while US has about seven, China has close to six and India has only about four military personnel per 10,000 capita. To put it in context, North Korea, has more than 300 troops in comparison while Singapore has over 185 army personnel for every 10,000 citizens.
According to data by Global Fire Power, a website that collects publicly available military data for countries around the world, China has more than 2,800 aircraft while India has only about 1,900. However, India has over 46 patrol aircrafts while China possess only 11 according to data available publicly on Central Investigation Agency’s World Factbook and other reports in the public domain.
Of course, China shares borders with 14 other countries. At 22,117 kms, it has has longest land boundary in the world. India shares a 15, 106 km border with seven countries.
