China Primer: The People?s Liberation Army (PLA) - Congress.gov
...The People?s Liberation Army (PLA) serves the Communist Party of China (CPC), the ruling party of the People?s Republic of China (PRC or China). The PLA was established in 1927 during the rise of the CPC and China?s civil war, and predates the founding of the PRC in 1949....
https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/IF/PDF/IF11719/IF11719.9.pdf
China Primer: The People s Liberation Army (PLA) - Congress.gov
...Overview The People?s Liberation Army (PLA) serves the Communist Party of China. Established in 1927, it carried that party to victory in the country?s civil war, which concluded with the 1949 founding of the People?s Republic of China (PRC, or China). Since 1978, PRC leaders have sought to transform the PLA from an infantry-heavy, low-technology, ground forces-centric military into a ......
https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/IF/PDF/IF11719/IF11719.12.pdf
CMSR 2026 The PLA Is Intended to Fight and Win Wars - MCU
...This capability benchmark goal may have been an unrealistic timeline based on the difficulties the PLA faces in light of the cultural and organizational reform required to fight its conception of modern warfare. As an organization, it is clearly intent on forcing unification through all potential means....
https://www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Marine-Corps-University-Press/China-Military-Studies-Review/CMSR-2026-The-PLA-Is-Intended-to-Fight-and-Win-Wars/
Report to Congress on the People?s Liberation Army - USNI News
...The People?s Liberation Army (PLA) serves the Communist Party of China. Established in 1927, it carried that party to victory in the country?s civil war, which concluded with the 1949 founding ......
https://news.usni.org/2026/07/28/report-to-congress-on-the-peoples-liberation-army-2
People's Liberation Army - Wikipedia
...Due to the CCP's system of absolute control, non-CCP political parties and groups and organizations except the Communist Youth League of China are not allowed to establish organizations or have members in the PLA....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Liberation_Army
China Primer: The People?s Liberation Army - USNI News
...As policymakers across the U.S. government have prioritized ?great power competition? with China, Congress has authorized programs and appropriated funds with the goal of competing militarily with the PRC. Download the document here....
https://news.usni.org/2025/09/11/china-primer-the-peoples-liberation-army
China?s PLA Challenges and Competitions
...Executive Summary China?s People?s Liberation Army (PLA) has turned to technology-focused challenges and competitions to help prepare for future conflict. These events provide structured, evaluative environments to ?discover, cultivate, and apply cutting-edge innovative technologies? for specific needs, such as countering swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Others include aims ......
https://cset.georgetown.edu/article/chinas-pla-challenges-and-competitions/
2025 Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments ...
...Senior CCP and PLA leaders are keenly aware that China?s military has not experi-enced combat in decades nor fought with its current suite of capabilities and organizational structures....
https://media.defense.gov/2025/Dec/23/2003849070/-1/-1/1/ANNUAL-REPORT-TO-CONGRESS-MILITARY-AND-SECURITY-DEVELOPMENTS-INVOLVING-THE-PEOPLES-REPUBLIC-OF-CHINA-2025.PDF
People's Liberation Army Operational Concepts - RAND Corporation
...Lacking examples of the PLA in combat, the operational concepts that underpin PLA doctrine and planning provide the best indication of how the PLA would fight should it be called on by CCP leadership to do so. Study of these concepts involves mapping out the hierarchy of thought that produces them....
https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RRA300/RRA394-1/RAND_RRA394-1.pdf
Military and Security Developments Involving the People s Republic of ...
...Interoperability and integration between the PLA, its reserve components, and the PRC?s paramilitary forces continue to grow in scale and sophistication, including the coordination between the......
https://media.defense.gov/2024/Dec/18/2003615520/-1/-1/0/MILITARY-AND-SECURITY-DEVELOPMENTS-INVOLVING-THE-PEOPLES-REPUBLIC-OF-CHINA-2024.PDF