From May 23 to June 6, 1985, the Central Military Commission held a very important meeting, an enlarged meeting that affected the future of the army and military personnel.
There is only one content: the existing army will be reduced by one million, and the 11 major military regions will be streamlined and merged into 7.
At that time, the Sino-Vietnamese border war was still ongoing.
Under such circumstances, wouldn't it be a hero who broke his wrist and weakened his strength in the face of millions of disarmaments?
Why did Deng Xiaoping and others do this?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" >1, the Sino-Vietnamese war, which was the fuse of "great disarmament"</h1>
The overall state of the army is not obvious in peacetime, but the war situation is like a super microscope, which will magnify the problems of the army one by one.
In 1979, there was a Sino-Vietnamese self-defense counterattack, and in the years before and after this war, Deng Xiaoping and other leaders of the Central Military Commission saw too many problems that could not be ignored and believed that disarmament was an important matter.
First, the army is too bloated, there are too many non-essential institutions, and there are too many cadres.
The army is too bloated, which will completely affect the efficiency of the army, which in turn will have an impact on the overall war that may occur, and will also cause great obstacles to the healthy and effective construction of the army.
At that time, there was no mandatory retirement system for senior cadres, and even if they were older, there were still many people serving in the military.
Deng Xiaoping said at that time: There are too many people in our command structure, and there are not many combat troops!
This is indeed the case.
As a result, at every army meeting, Deng Xiaoping would often mention a problem, that is, the retirement of military cadres and the problem of veterans changing careers.
The large number of military affiliates also allowed the Central Military Commission to see that the army was like "a weak fat man", as if running two steps would be breathless. This is a bloated disease, it can be cured!
The bloated military apparatus is a big problem and an important reason for Deng Xiaoping's determination to reform the army.
Second, the times have changed, and soldiers do not lie in the many, but in the fine.
In the Sino-Vietnamese War, many military problems were highlighted, and some problems were analyzed and pointed out by US military experts, who said:
The plaster's intelligence quality before and after the Sino-Vietnamese war was very low, the communication between various units was not smooth, the quality of weapons and equipment was "too poor" (estimated to be compared with the United States and the Soviet Union), and there was still great room for improvement in the overall coordination ability of the army leadership.
For the analysis of americans, we can ignore it, or even scold twice: dogs take rats and take care of things!
However, the leaders of the Chinese military have changed their thinking, they have changed their attitude of resisting "US imperialism", and if they compare them one by one, are there any problems?
If there is a crown, if there is none, it will be changed.
After comparison, the leaders still gave affirmation to the analysis of some aspects of the American experts.
The times have changed, and the will to fight of an army is indeed very important, but ignoring the coordination of the army as a whole and ignoring the keeping pace with the times with the times of weapons and equipment will suffer great losses. And some losses we can not eat, some losses we can avoid through hard work, why not?
As a result, the "concept of crack troops" has been further strengthened and disarmament has become particularly important.
Third, military spending is too high.
When the proportion of military expenditure in a country's GDP is too high, the country is like being held on the hind legs, not to mention running fast, it is not easy to go fast.
For example, Vietnam, because of the border war with China, has long placed 800,000 troops in the north, and at the same time, there are a large number of troops in Cambodia, which led to vietnam's economic progress in 1979-1989, and all the national strength was lost in military expenditure.
After the 1990s, Vietnam began to get rid of the "military trap" and run in small steps, but found that other opponents had been running for a long time, and it was not easy to catch up.
At that time, although China was a country with a large population, military expenditure was not low, and in 1979, military expenditure accounted for 4.6% of GDP, and a lot of military expenditure was actually on the head of people, not on equipment research and development.
This is a big problem!
In 1983, General Zhang Aiping, the Minister of National Defense, said: "The army should consider the needs of other departments .... Keep the budget within what limited funds can allow. ”
Objectively speaking, in the national situation at that time, the control of military expenditure was already an urgent matter, so disarmament became inevitable.
Fourth, it is necessary to carry out the modernization of the armed forces.
What is the modernization of the army?
That is, to increase investment in equipment research and development, update modern equipment, improve the overall quality of individual soldiers, increase the mastery and skillful use of new weapons by soldiers, and cultivate soldiers in the new era.
To put it simply, it is two sentences: equipment needs to keep pace with the times, and soldiers need to be of comprehensive quality.
Strengthening the modernization of the armed forces, weakening the tactics of the former man-seas, and promoting the concept of crack troops require major disarmament.
All in all, after 1979, there was already a lot of thinking about military reform and large-scale disarmament.
Why, then, did disarmament begin in 1985?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="43" >2, the final implementation of the great disarmament, or a precise judgment of the international situation</h1>
Disarmament requires great courage, it is "a matter of national security", it is a matter of overall military governance, and unless the situation in the next decade is foreseen, major disarmament is risky.
On March 19, 1979, only three days after the end of the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, at a meeting of the Technical Equipment Committee of the Central Military Commission, Deng Xiaoping boldly said: "It seems that the world war cannot be fought for 10 years, and there is no need to be so urgent." The number of troops is also too large, and we must first reduce the size of the army..." (Deng Xiaoping Military Anthology)
What does this passage mean? Military modernization can be slowed down, but disarmament must come first.
On March 12, 1980, Deng Xiaoping put forward four views on future disarmament: first, to reduce swelling (attrition); second, to reform the army system; third, to strengthen training; and fourth, to strengthen ideological and political work.
Seeing this, it seems as if great disarmament is about to begin.
In fact, it has not been carried out immediately, but has begun to formulate and improve various post-disarmament response methods, such as the treatment of retired veteran cadres;
In short, "disarmament" is only two words, very simple, but it is not easy to do, involving the work of millions of people to change and stay, and even more involved in whether the people who stay behind can shoulder the heavy responsibility of national defense.
The system gradually improved, but the final hammer was decided in 1985.
After 1984, the international situation has become relatively clear, and the big brother Soviet Union has been deeply involved in the War in Afghanistan, spending a lot of money and is in a dilemma.
In the arms race with the United States, the Soviet Union also exhausted its efforts, and too much development funds were spent on equipment research and development and production.
It can be said that the Soviet Union at that time was greatly weakened in the international political arena, and fatigue had become prominent.
In 1985, the new leader of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev, was once again bent on developing the economy and easing relations with the outside world.
Therefore, China's most worrying "fight with Big Brother after a complete break" is already a very small probability.
Vietnam on the border between China and Vietnam has long been a passive defense, without the arrogance of the past, like a frosted eggplant. The Soviet Union, the big brother on whom he relied deeply, was weak, and Vietnam was no longer able to rise.
The economic powerhouses, the United States and Japan, have become important partners in China's new economic cooperation, they have set their sights on China's market, and we have set their sights on their technology and capital. One shot and two, and I worked happily in the economic field.
Therefore, the Central Military Commission came to an important and affirmative conclusion: there is no risk of large-scale war in the short term, and it is possible to disarm.
From May 23 --- June 6, 1985, the Central Military Commission held an enlarged meeting focused on how to disarm and how to improve various systems and measures.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="62" >3, what specific adjustments were made to the 1985 disarmament? </h1>
What important things did the meeting decide? Let's pick the point.
One is disarmament in millions.
For this number, the participants who did not know the details before were surprised.
Some people can't help but question whether this will weaken the overall combat effectiveness of the military and put China at a disadvantage in the conflict. After all, India in the west is always looking for opportunities to fight with its eyes wide open, while Vietnam in the south is still engaged in border battles with the People's Liberation Army.
Deng Xiaoping and others have already considered this answer N times and directly replied:
In the event of war, it is also necessary to reduce the size in order for the troops to fight effectively.
At the same time, Deng Xiaoping told those who were worried that those veterans who had retired from the army would become reservists, and believed that they could recruit and fight.
That is to say, if the war is inevitable, the scale is not small, and if the existing strength cannot meet the needs of the war, the reserve can be replenished immediately.
This has given many people a reassuring pill.
Second, the 11 major military regions were merged into 7 major military regions.
This is not just a merger, it also means subtracting some subordinate agencies.
Therefore, the units that have become an institution and above the military level, including the military level, have been directly reduced by 31 units.
Units at the lower division and regimental levels were abolished even more, up to 4,054. That's definitely not a small number.
The armed forces of the various localities were once subordinated to the local establishment, and in this way, they became the local security forces, with a unified name, called the People's Armed Forces Department.
Since 1986, the Ministry of People's Armed Forces has been basically subordinate to the localities, and has been professionally guided by the army and has carried out close cooperation with the army. (In 1996, according to the adjustment, the Ministry of People's Armed Forces was reorganized into an army structure, equivalent to the army's local offices, responsible for conscription, discharge, training militia, and management of reserves.) ）
For some of the 76 positions that were once held by officers, all of them were replaced by soldiers. In this way, the officers have more time to do important things, and the sense of responsibility of the soldiers becomes stronger.
From 1985 to 1987, the Chinese People's Liberation Army was completed with a million major disarmament, and everything achieved a smooth transition. Subsequent military modernization also gradually developed.
After the great disarmament, the ratio of officers to soldiers dropped considerably.
36 years have passed, and looking at the current Chinese People's Liberation Army, it is refined and efficient, has entered modernization, and is known as the "third military power" by the world. At the same time, the development of the army has not affected and dragged down the overall economic development of the country.
Looking back, Deng Xiaoping and others at that time were really far-sighted and clever!
Reference: The Deng Xiaoping Era
"The Great Disarmament of The Great | Millions of Years in New China"
Footprints of the Republic--- 1985: Million Disarmament