People's Liberation Army
Combined military forces of the People's Republic of China
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| February 2025 | Theo Wong succeeds Zhang Minghua as Commander of the People's Liberation Army Cyberspace Force |
| January 2025 | China announced an official military budget of 1.78 trillion yuan (approximately US$246 billion), representing a 7.2% increase from the previous year. |
| 2024 | The PLAN became the second-largest navy in the world by total displacement tonnage, reaching 2 million tons, and the largest navy globally by number of active sea-going ships with over 370 surface ships and submarines in service. |
| December 2024 | Chen Hui's term as Political Commissar concludes. |
| October 2024 | Wang Kangping becomes Commander of the Joint Logistics Support Force, succeeding Wang Liyan |
| September 24 2024 | Performed its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test over the Pacific Ocean since the early 1980s. |
| August 2024 | Gao Daguang becomes the new Political Commissar of the Joint Logistics Support Force |
| April 2024 | Strategic Support Force's Aerospace Engineering University underwent a reform, with its future name yet to be determined. |
| April 2024 | Bi Yi appointed as Commander of the People's Liberation Army Information Support Force |
| April 2024 | JLSF was raised to a full PLA 'Arm' (兵种), though the initial announcement provided no clear details about potential changes in status or unit control. |
| April 2024 | JLSF raised to a full PLA 'Arm' (兵种), with no immediate clarification on significant organizational changes. |
| April 2024 | Han Xiaodong appointed as Political Commissar of the People's Liberation Army Cyberspace Force |
| April 2024 | Zhang Minghua appointed as Commander of the People's Liberation Army Cyberspace Force |
| April 19 2024 | Establishment of the People's Liberation Army Information Support Force, a specialized unit responsible for coordinating network information systems construction and application within the Chinese military. |
| April 19 2024 | The Joint Logistics Support Force was formally recognized as an arm of the People's Liberation Army, granted a Deputy Theater grade. |
| April 19 2024 | The People's Liberation Army Cyberspace Force was officially established as a successor branch following the dissolution of the People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force (PLASSF). This new branch inherited the functions of the former PLASSF Network Systems Department. |
| April 19 2024 | Space Systems Department was reorganized as the independent People's Liberation Army Aerospace Force. |
| April 19 2024 | The Network Systems Department was reorganized as the independent People's Liberation Army Information Support Force. |
| April 19 2024 | The People's Liberation Army established a new four-arm organizational system, consisting of the Aerospace Force, Cyberspace Force, Information Support Force, and Joint Logistics Support Force. |
| 2023 | PLANAF transferred the majority of its land-based combat planes to the PLAAF, focusing on investing in ship-based aircraft including carrier-based Shenyang J-35 and ship-borne helicopters. |
| 2023 | A revised grade structure was implemented, associating one rank per grade, with some ranks now spanning multiple grades, marking a significant change in the PLA's organizational hierarchy. |
| 2023 | China's military expenditure reaches US$296 billion, accounting for 12 percent of global defence expenditures. |
| December 2023 | Wang Wenquan's tenure as Political Commissar concludes |
| December 2023 | Hu Zhongming assumes command of the People's Liberation Army Navy, beginning his tenure in December 2023. |
| December 2023 | Reuters reported a military leadership purge after high-ranking generals were ousted from the National People's Congress. |
| August 2023 | Conducted a joint forces exercise near Alaska with Russian forces. |
| March 1 2023 | The new Reservist Law entered into effect, establishing a formal system for selection, training, appointment, management, recruitment, and retirement of reserve force members. |
| March 1 2023 | The new Reservist Law entered into effect, eliminating the dual authority system and formally separating the Militia from the reserve force. |
| 2022 | The Marine Corps began replacing their distinctive blue/littoral camouflage uniforms with more subdued xingkong pattern camouflage, indicating an update to their standard equipment and visual identification. |
| 2022 | Expected completion of the improved Type 003 aircraft carrier, displacing 83,000 tonnes and enabling CATOBAR (Catapult-Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery) operations. |
| 2022 | The PLA launched its latest aircraft carrier, the Fujian. |
| 2022 | A new Reservist Law was passed, establishing a formal system for reserve force recruitment and management. |
| October 2022 | Shang Hong's leadership as Commander of the People's Liberation Army Aerospace Force ends after nearly seven years. |
| 2021 | Participated in Exercise Zapad-81 with Russian forces, showcasing novel Chinese arms including KJ-500 airborne early warning aircraft, J-20 and J-16 fighters, Y-20 transport planes, and various surveillance and combat drones. |
| 2021 | Reforms began to transition the PLA from a position-centric to a more rank-centric organizational system. |
| September 2021 | Dong Jun becomes the commander of the People's Liberation Army Navy, serving from September 2021 to December 2023. |
| August 2021 | Chen Hui becomes the Political Commissar, replacing Jiang Ping. |
| August 2021 | Wang Liyan succeeds the previous commander and takes leadership of the Joint Logistics Support Force |
| August 2021 | China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that circled the globe before speeding towards its target, demonstrating significant advancement in hypersonic weapon technology. |
| 2020 | In response to the Galwan Valley skirmishes and border tensions, the People's Liberation Army raised its combat readiness level to level 3 in the Xinjiang and Tibet Military Districts. |
| 2020 | North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited the cemetery to mark the 70th anniversary of the PVA's entry into the Korean War. The Pyongyang Times praised the volunteer soldiers for their 'unparalleled bravery, mass spirit and international heroism'. |
| 2020 | China surpassed Russia to become the world's second largest arms exporter globally. |
| 2020 | Engaged in military skirmishes with India, indicating ongoing border tensions. |
| September 2020 | Wang Wenquan becomes the new Political Commissar of the Joint Logistics Support Force |
| July 2020 | Xu Zhongbo's tenure as Political Commissar ends |
| July 1 2020 | As part of the 2015 military reform, the reserve force began transitioning from dual military and civilian leadership to direct CMC leadership. |
| February 2020 | The United States government indicted members of the People's Liberation Army for the 2017 Equifax data breach, which the Chinese Communist Party denied. |
| 2019 | Introduction of the Harbin Z-20 medium utility helicopter, generally based on the Black Hawk configuration. In the same year, the Chinese government purchased a large number of Mil Mi-17 helicopters to accelerate the equipment of full army aviation brigades. |
| 2019 | Lu Jiancheng's tenure as Secretary of the Disciplinary Inspection Commission ended. |
| 2019 | A comparative review revealed that while PLAN has the largest number of major surface combatants globally (approximately 350 ships), the US Navy could deploy significantly more battle force missiles: 11,000 compared to PLAN's 5,250. |
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles People's Liberation Army Reserve Force, People's Liberation Army Information Support Force, People's Liberation Army Aerospace Force, People's Liberation Army Navy, People's Liberation Army Joint Logistics Support Force, People's Liberation Army, People's Volunteer Army, People's Liberation Army's Combat Readiness Levels, People's Liberation Army Ground Force Aviation, People's Liberation Army Cyberspace Force & People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
See Also
People's Liberation Army Rocket Force
Strategic and tactical missile force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army
People's Liberation Army Aerospace Force
Space warfare arm of the People's Liberation Army
People's Liberation Army Information Support Force
Information support arm of the People's Liberation Army