Re: new Chinese supertank,question....
Hi, Demian
My name is Xavier. I'm Belgian, then we are traditional and hereditary enemies...hehe...just joking.
In 1994, I joined the Belgian para-commando, exactly the 2nd Commando Battalion, 14th Company. I was in active service until September 1999 when i decided to become reservist and start my studies at the university. I always regret to no more be a regular, but it was the only way for me to combine different aspects of my life, and to be reservist is better than nothing. Anyway, now I'm a PhD first year student, and It's already three years that I'm doing researches and studies in Japan (for the moment I'm part of the Osaka University). My academic speciality is related to the military affairs.
At the beginning, I was very excited by the big military transformation that the Asian powers seem to do, but after more than 7 years of studies including already three full years in Japan (and Asia), I arrive to the same conclusion than most of the European specialists that I know in Japan: Asian powers must not be underestimated BUT in really the quality of the Asian armies is generally not very high: it's a lot of "show" with firework, a kind of military ballet. Some improvements are made, but still these armies are not very good: all is based on the appearances,...just like in the society. Moreover, speaking about appearances, I personnally think that the Asian armies are very kitsch. Then, globally, I probably agree with your impression, Demian.
It's always difficult and maybe impossible to do an exact ranking of armies. However, for the Asian ranking, I even don't think that China has the best army. Maybe the RoK Army (South Korea) is far better. The SAF (Singapore) are also impresive and improve a lot. However, the RoK Army, just like the other Asian armies, is based on "show" and like to present a tuff image of itself, but it has not sufficient operational credibility. South Korea also had not participated to combats since the Vietnam War in the 1960's, has a limited number of recent overseas deployment (East Timor, Iraq), and its only recent combat experiences are some occasional and very limited border clashes with North Korea. China is in a worst situation because there is NO Chinese forces overseas (maybe excepted some military advisers or observers) since more than two decades and the reality of battlefield become in the Chinese mind a kind of heroic and clean image for glory, and they are very excited like kids with toys and without maturity. In the PLA (China), only a small percent of the troops are equiped with a better material than the rest. The training is relatively of poor quality (but maybe sufficient for the standards of the region). And the lists of comments can be long. South Korea is in better situation: the forces are more modernized and standardized (and the quality of the equipment is quickly improving, as well the autonomy of the defense industry is quickly increasing), the quality and the level of education of the recruits is far higher, and the quality of the training is better than in China. Also, with more than 680,000 regulars and around 4,500,000 reservists South Korea has in peacetime more men in uniforms than China (but, if South Korea does not have a rapid decisive victory, China would be able to mobilize more manpower because of its far larger population...however, I don't believe that China has the economical power to give heavy equipments to millions or tens of millions of quickly mobilized people that would probably be badly trained very light troops). The major advantages of China compared to Korea are the mass, and also some strategic vectors like nukes. For these reasons, even if the PLA is not a very good army, it must not be underestimated and, in Asia, it's a major military power for sure.
Singapore has armed forces with highly educated military personel (even higher than in South Korea) and high quality equipment (also rapidly increasing). Moreover, the armed forces of Singapore are part of an impressive policy of Total Defense involving all the society (after having studied Total Defense in Switzerland and Sweden). But, Singapore has absolutely no military experiences (all is theories), and it's a so small country. However, still it's from far one of the two or three best armies in Asia.
It was just a few general comments. But, I'm sure that there will have many reactions...
