China struggling with military reforms needed in time for Taiwan action

The People’s Liberation Army failed to implement key military reforms needed to meet the goal of having enough firepower to take Taiwan by force in 2027, according to an Air Force think tank report.

The report quotes People’s Liberation Army Gen. Zhang Youxia, the most powerful military officer in China, as voicing concerns that the military has not moved fast enough to be ready for an invasion or blockade of Taiwan, as Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered.

Details of the shortcomings were disclosed by Gen. Zhang in a state-media essay last year. The article revealed weaknesses in military leadership, problems with wartime military-civilian coordination, and an inability to conduct both joint operations and information warfare operations needed for a major joint military campaign.

“After nine years of corruption purges, modernization initiatives, and substantial reforms, Xi and China’s military leaders remain concerned,” the report by the China Aerospace Studies Institute states.

“Significant portions of the People’s Liberation Army and cross-military and local (civilian) efforts are not moving fast enough, or in the right direction.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a speech on May 31 that a conflict with China over Taiwan is a real danger that is “imminent” and would result in devastating consequences.

The warnings by Gen. Zhang are significant since he is vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Military Commission, the party organ that controls China’s 3 million-troop army.

The findings of the report coincide with U.S. intelligence assessments of China’s large-scale military buildup.

A U.S. defense official told The Washington Times several months ago: “While we are respectful of the [military] gains that they’re making, we see a lot of holes still in their ability to execute things.

“If we take them at their word that the timeline is 2027 or after to have the capabilities in place [for a Taiwan military assault], they still got some time to work, and they will need it,” the official said.

According to the report, the PLA is experiencing systemic obstructions for military organization and materiel systems, a lack of focus on jointness, slow progress in improving training and readiness, ineffective military governance, inefficient resource management, slow integration of new weapons, and internal corruption.

Corruption remains endemic in the PLA, with a new wave of arrests and firings beginning in 2023.

Between July and December 2023, at least 15 high-ranking military officers and defense industry executives were removed from their posts. Several were linked to corruption involving building ground-based nuclear and conventional missiles.

Purges took place in 2023 and 2024 and are continuing, including the November 2024 ouster of key ideological CMC leader Adm. Miao Hua.