China/Military
 China/Military  (Armed Forces)   | |
|---|---|
| The principal military force of the People's Republic of China |
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Contents
Overview
The PLA is the world's largest military force by number of personnel and has the second largest defense budget in the world. China's military expenditure was US$292 billion in 2022, accounting for 13 percent of the world's defense expenditures.[1]. It is also one of the fastest modernizing militaries in the world.
Covid
“This epidemic is not only a crisis, but also a big test, and a war. I said from the beginning, we must fight; this is a people’s war.”
Xi Jinping (2020) [2]
Like in the United States and much of the rest of the world,[3] the Chinese activities around the Covid deep event were of military nature. The "pandemic" constituted the first major test of China’s system for "national defense mobilization". Waging "people’s warfare" against the "pandemic", China’s leaders sought to leverage and coordinate all available resources and capabilities, including military, reserve, and militia forces, as well as directing production at thousands of businesses nationwide.[4] The military also contributed to propaganda and enforcing lockdowns.[5]
Dead researchers
China has lost some of its most prominent scientists and engineers in what have officially been deemed deaths due to accidental circumstances or natural causes.[6]
- Luo Chongtai was a prominent figure in China's aerospace industry, and deputy director of the Lanzhou Institute of Physics, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. He contributed to more than 20 national missions, including navigation satellites, lunar exploration projects, communication satellites, and key defence weapon equipment. His team also delivered the Chang'e moon satellite. Luo died in 2011 at the age of 47 when the vehicle he was in collided with a truck.[6]
- Zhang Shoucheng was inducted into the US' National Academy of Sciences in 2015 and made contributions to topological insulators, quantum materials and high-temperature superconducting materials. Zhang died in San Francisco in 2018 at the age of 55 in a suicide, which his family confirmed.[6]
- Chen Shuming was a professor at the National University of Defence Technology, specialising in computer science and digital signal processing. He led research efforts in high-performance signal processing technology for both military and civilian applications. His team developed China's first fully compatible digital signal processor (DSP) chip, the first military-grade heterogeneous multi-core DSP, and the first radiation-resistant high-performance DSP capable of stable operations in extreme environments. His research helped China's military become less dependent on other countries for core weaponry components. Chen died in a traffic accident in 2018 at the age of 57. According to a statement by authorities, Chen had been struck by a truck while attending to a roadside emergency.[6]
- Feng Yanghe conducted joint research at Harvard University and the University of Iowa from 2011 to 2013 before becoming an associate professor and leader of major engineering projects at the National University of Defence Technology. A police investigation confirmed that Feng, who was 38, was killed in a car accident in 2023, which according to a military insider, was blamed on a fatigued taxi driver.[6]
- Zhang Xiaoxin. In 2007, he was recruited by the China Meteorological Administration and specialised in developing China's space surveillance programmes. He was director of the Space Weather Office of the National Satellite Meteorological Centre and made significant contributions to space weather forecasting and satellite applications. Zhang died in a traffic accident in December 2024 at the age of 62.[6]
- Tang Xiaoou founded SenseTime in 2014, focusing on artificial intelligence and computer vision. The company's technologies, such as SenseFace and SenseVideo, became central to applications like facial recognition and security surveillance. Tang died in December 2023 at the age of 55. According to his company's obituary, Tang died after failing to recover from a medical condition. A close associate said he died from sleep apnoea.[6] (which could be induced, see psychotronic warfare)
- Zhang Daibing was deputy director of the Unmanned Systems Research Institute at the National University of Defence Technology, specialising in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology. In 2018, he left the university and founded Yunzhihang Technology, where he led development of products such as machine snakes and firefighting drones for high-rise buildings. An official obituary for Zhang, who died on January 3, 2025, reported his "unfortunate passing" but did not give further details.
References
- ↑ https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/2023-04/2304_fs_milex_2022.pdf
- ↑ https://www.understandingwar.org/report/peoples-warfare-against-covid-19-testing-china%E2%80%99s-military-medical-and-defense-mobilization
- ↑ see for example Operation Warp Speed, Germany/Military, Australia/Military, Italy/Military, Spain/Military...
- ↑ https://www.understandingwar.org/report/peoples-warfare-against-covid-19-testing-china%E2%80%99s-military-medical-and-defense-mobilization
- ↑ https://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/ISW%20Report%20People%27s%20Warfare%20against%20COVID-19%20ISW%20China%20December%202020.pdf
- ↑ a b c d e f g https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/unusual-circumstances-the-top-chinese-scientific-minds-who-died-suddenly/ar-AA1yGrSO
