Military to strengthen management processes

China's Central Military Commission has tasked more than 30 divisions, brigades and regiments from various branches with piloting a campaign to fully promote the standardized classification in management of the armed forces, according to People's Liberation Army Daily.

Starting this year, all services and armed police forces will focus on the new situations and problems ahead, sum up the practical experience of military management, and improve the specialization and refinement of management, a PLA Daily report said this week.

The campaign will center on combat readiness, aiming to provide support for forming strategic capabilities on schedule, it said, noting that solving new problems in military management must be in accordance with the rule of law.

This is an important measure to implement the CMC's guideline on comprehensively and strictly strengthening military management, and to comprehensively beef up military governance and continuously promote innovation in military management, the PLA Daily coverage pointed out.

The guideline was issued by the CMC in 2019 and was designed to speed up the building of a "new military management system" and promote a "fundamental change" in managing the armed forces.

The guideline stressed the need to focus military management on battle preparedness, improve the wartime military management system and innovate military management in key areas, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Song Zhongping, a military affairs commentator, said that management is crucial for any organization, especially the military, and management ability means organizational and combat capabilities.

The expert was quoted by Beijing Youth Daily as saying that military management mainly focuses on personnel and equipment, such as the transfer and coordination of troops, the deployment and maintenance of equipment, and the combination and use of personnel and equipment.

Improving management capability of the forces is an important guarantee for winning battles, he said, adding that the PLA has attached great attention to joint systematic combat capability.

"To achieve standardized classification in management, the core lies in improving efficiency, increasing coordination among all services and arms, and all theater commands, and consolidating the forces' quick response capability and joint operation capability," said Song.

In addition, the PLA Daily report stated the main task of the campaign, which lies in three parts — military management "during wartime or under dynamic and dispersed conditions", the management in "information network environment", and the management in "new-domain forces with new combat capabilities".

In Song's eyes, those indicated three key points of the task. First, it focuses on how to enhance the rapid response capability among multiple services by optimizing the management mechanism during wartime or when soldiers are not at their bases, he said.

Second, the military should utilize new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to improve modern management and ensure the safety and reliability of key information.

Third, the PLA will strengthen the management and maintenance of new military technologies and equipment in new fields, such as the use of unmanned aerial vehicles and anti-drone capability.