March 16, 2026, 3:02 am
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is now equipped with an impressive and intimidating array of modern equipment, after a massive surge in defence spending over two decades. The military parade in Beijing on 3 September 2025 amply showcased the PLA’s new-tech kit and its spit-and-polish.
But will it be deployed in force by the Chinese Communist Party which owns it? If so, will it win wars?
Drawing on his Special Report for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) The PLA: Modernised but still mistrusted published late in 2025, Rowan Callick will examine how modernisation has become a central project of the CCP – with unswerving responsiveness to party directions at its core.
This applies especially to the party’s army. The CCP’s general secretary Xi Jinping has led constant, restless restructuring of the PLA since he became chairman of the Central Military Commission in November 2012. He has also led a constant churn of senior military officers – nine generals being charged last October alone.
The modernisation task remains a work in progress – what are the implications for the region, and for Australia?
Rowan Callick OBE FAIIA is an expert associate at the National Security College of the Australian National University, an industry fellow at Griffith University’s Asia Institute, and a member of the advisory board of the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations. He was China correspondent for The Australian Financial Review and (twice) for The Australian, and is the author of three books on contemporary China, including Party Time: Who Rules China and How.
Content Creator – Australian Institute of International Affairs
