China's military to hold exercises involving 40,000 troops

Sep 10, 2013 brahmand.com

BEIJING (PTI): China's militarywill hold one of its biggest exercises involving 40,000 troops aimed at testing the logistic ability of the world's largest army to move its troops in real wartime situation.

Dubbed as "Mission Action 2013," the exercises will involve more than 40,000 soldiers of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) from the Nanjing and Guangzhou military area commands.

The Air Force too will participate in the drills, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported without giving the specific schedule.

The troops are expected to maneuver over 30,000 km by vehicle, railway, sea and air in order to test logistic capabilities of the PLA in a real war situation, according to military headquarters.

The 2.3 million-strong PLA, world's largest army, will also test coordination capabilities of different army units and organise cooperation between military and civilian forces.

Civilian transport tools, including railways and civilian vehicles, civilian airliners and ships will join the military action, the report said.

"Mission Action 2013" is part of the annual military training plan and has been approved by the Central Military Commission (CMC) chaired by Xi Jinping, who is also Chinese President and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.