The state military system upholds the principle of the Communist Party's absolute leadership over the armed forces. The party and the State jointly established the Central Military Commission that carries out the task of supreme military leadership over the armed forces. The 1954 Constitution stated that the State President directs the armed forces and made the State President the chair of the Defense Commission. The total active forces is about 2,255,000 soldiers. A reduction to 1.85 million has been discussed. The paramilitary forces is about 660,000 soldiers, and reserve and militia forces of 3,000,000 soldiers. The PLA deploys the world's largest ground force, currently totaling some 1.8 million personnel, or about 70 percent of the PLA's total manpower (2.3 million). The ground forces are divided among the seven military regions.
The structure is :
- 18 combined forces Army Groups.
These include 5 rapid deployment forces with :
- 60 infantry divisions
- 8 armoured/mechanised divisions
- 3 airborne divisions
- 10 artillery divisions
- 1 mountain division
- 50 independent engineer regiments
- 19 signal regiments
- 49 Special forces independent regiments