# PLA
Latest news and articles about PLA
Total: 30 articles found
Four Legs, One Rhythm: China Puts Cavalry Drill on Display to Showcase Military Discipline
Footage released by a Chinese military outlet shows cavalry horses moving in tightly synchronized formations, a ceremonial display that highlights the PLA’s emphasis on discipline, tradition and carefully managed public messaging. While horses have limited battlefield utility today, mounted units remain useful for certain terrains and for projecting an image of military order, not as an indicator of doctrinal change.
China's Forces Put Realism to the Test: Drills Hard‑wire High‑altitude, Extreme‑weather and Logistics Capabilities
Several Chinese military and paramilitary units have conducted closely observed, realism‑oriented exercises covering field engineering, UAV operation, high‑altitude reconnaissance, extreme‑cold logistics and jungle mobility. The training indicates a systemic emphasis on sustainment, terrain‑specific tactics and inter‑unit coordination designed to improve readiness across diverse operating environments.
Smile Walls and Statecraft: How a PLA Military District Is Recasting Rural Revitalization in Jiangxi
In Jiangxi’s Ganzhou region, the PLA’s military sub‑district has paired with 19 villages since 2021 to deliver infrastructure, education and agricultural support. Public “smile walls” of photographs dramatise tangible gains — higher incomes, new elderly care and improved schooling — while signalling the Party‑Army partnership behind China’s rural revitalization strategy. The initiative is practical and popular locally but also raises questions about the long‑term balance between military involvement and civilian governance in sustaining rural development.
PLA Unveils 'Spring Mode' Poster as Training Season Kicks Off
China’s military released a spring-themed poster campaign marking the start of the training season, using cultural imagery to signal renewed training tempo and to reinforce domestic narratives of military strengthening. The move is largely symbolic but consistent with a broader pattern of public messaging that normalizes sustained readiness and modernization.
China Shows Drone-Mounted Gun in Tibet Drill, Signaling New Low-Cost Firepower for High-Altitude Warfare
Chinese state media released footage of a drone fitted with a gun firing during motorized troop exercises in Tibet, signaling an operational push to integrate armed UAVs into high-altitude combined-arms tactics. The demonstration highlights both the PLA’s interest in cost-effective, distributed firepower and the technical limits and countermeasures that such systems will provoke.
On the Eastern Seaboard, China’s Frontline Troops Send a Stark Message of Readiness
A reporter's on-the-ground account from China's eastern coast highlights intensive, joint frontline readiness intended as both practical defence preparation and political deterrence. The story underscores how routine drills and heightened operational tempo raise the stakes for miscalculation in a crowded maritime theatre.
China’s Army Asks Public to Name Three New ‘Spring Festival’ Horses — A Small PR Moment with Bigger Symbolic Reach
The Chinese military has launched an online naming contest for three newly arrived horses ahead of the 2026 Lunar New Year, presenting detailed, personable profiles to solicit public submissions and votes. The campaign combines ceremonial tradition with digital outreach, humanizing the armed forces and using a lighthearted vehicle to advance institutional messaging during a politically resonant holiday.
Across the Snowline: Chinese Border Guards Patrol Xinjiang by Sled and Boot
State media imagery this week showed Chinese border troops in Xinjiang conducting snowbound patrols using motor sleds and foot patrols. The operations highlight Beijing’s efforts to sustain presence and mobility across harsh frontier terrain as part of broader border-security and readiness priorities.
PLA Navy Unit Escorts Honoured Sailors and Families on Cultural Pilgrimage to Cement Cohesion
A PLA naval brigade in the Eastern Theater took recently decorated servicemen and their families on a cultural tour of local museums and heritage sites to strengthen morale and family support. The event illustrates how the Chinese military uses recognition, traditional values and family engagement as tools of personnel management and political work.
Schools Link by Video to Border Troops for Lunar New Year — A Soft Push for National‑Defence Education
Ahead of the Lunar New Year, schools in several Chinese provinces held synchronized flag‑raisings and video calls with border troops to send greetings and provide national‑defence education. Coordinated by veterans' affairs and military liaison offices, the events mix human stories of frontier hardship with civic ritual to foster patriotism and familiarity with military service among pupils.
Beijing’s Show of Force Over Scarborough: Armed PLA Flights as Manila’s Exercise Zone Escalates Tensions
China staged naval patrols and armed air overflights near Scarborough Shoal after the Philippines included the feature in a declared exercise zone, signalling Beijing’s readiness to defend what it calls sovereign territory. The episode increases the risk of miscalculation and highlights the limits of legal rulings and the growing role of calibrated coercion in the South China Sea.
China’s Southern Military Turns Cross‑Domain Joint Drills into a Routine Tool to Harden Forces
China’s Southern Theatre Command is institutionalizing cross‑domain joint drills—linking sea, air and land units through integrated command systems and realistic scenario training—to harden wartime readiness. The routineization of such exercises boosts the PLA’s coordinated response but raises risks of faster escalation and complicates regional security calculations.