KWIC October 28: China claims that it will increase the proportion of volunteer soldiers and that by the end of the year of 2000, this proportion will have risen to 35%.The new military service law include changing the existing term of service for the compulsory servicemen to two years and eliminating the regulation of the extended service.
The new military service law shortens the term of service for the compulsory soldiers and in the meantime, increases the number of the "volunteer soldiers". These adjustments are based on the two considerations. First, it is the reform complementary to the plan of cutting the military troops by 500 thousand people.
The revised military service law will also make some adjustments in the military service system. The emphasis will no longer be on the service system of the compulsory servicemen alone, but instead, it has shifted to the combination of both the volunteer soldiers and the compulsory servicemen. At present, the Chinese volunteer soldiers account for 18% of the total. By the end of 2000, this proportion will have increased to 35%.
China has repeatedly emphasized that it will realize the two "fundamental changes" in its military construction by the end of this century. It is quality, not quantity, that should be given the first place. All the articles that the military scholars have written believe that the system of the "volunteer soldiers" is the major direction of the future military reform and is also the trend of the world. This system is the guarantee of creating and maintaining a large quantity of the "knowledge-intensive" military human resources.
China has faced the same reform problem as Russia does in increasing the volunteer soldiers. Russia, too, adopts the mixed military service system characterized by the combination of both the compulsory servicemen and the contract soldiers. It is now trying to gradually increase the proportion of the contract soldiers. Now, the Russian contract soldiers constitute 25% of the total. Russia is considering the reform plan of implementing the contract system in an all-rounded way and "establishing the national armed forces on a career basis". However, the above reform plan has received a strong resistance from the Russian army and various parties. The major obstacle to the implementation of this reform plan is the lack of funds. According to the estimation made by the General Organization and Mobilization Bureau of Russia's Headquarters of the General Staff, it costs 2.5 times more to maintain a contract soldier than to maintain a compulsory serviceman. For this reason, the Russian army is planning to reach the goal of building the fully career-based military forces stage by stage. For the first stage, by the year of 2000, the contract system will be set for the military units and forces that join the Peace-keeping Forces or carry out missions in the regions of military conflicts. For the second stage, the goal of building the career-based military forces will be fully achieved by the year of 2005.
It is worth noting that both China and Russia have realized that it is imperative to build the fully career-based military forces and that it is just a matter of time to do so. As a ban has been imposed on the army's engaging in trade, the army will see a decrease in its revenue. Under these circumstances, a rise in the proportion of the "volunteer soldiers" implies that the military expenditure of China will definitely increase by a large margin for the year of 1999. ( Editor by John Wu )
