MY CHINA (Part 2)

More Truths About My Country

1 March 2026

by KAN Fengmin

Summary

The author defends the People's Liberation Army against Western claims it is a menace. The Chinese Army, under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, firmly adheres to the Chinese government's Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, including never attacking first. The Chinese Army has never launched any war against any country, never joined anybody else's war, never subverted any other country’s government nor pushed for regime change — in the Chinese Army's entire history since the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949.

In Part One, I paid tribute to the Communist Party of China for its leadership in transforming an impoverished land of close to 600 million people in 1949 into a strong nation of 1.4 billion, enjoying modern lives today. The Party and government have consistently placed the country’s fate and the people’s well-being as their first priorities since it came to power in 1949. This remarkable success clearly demonstrated that a country’s development can be well advanced, peacefully, without exploiting other nations or peoples.

In Part Two, I will pay tribute to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, now so often depicted as a menacing threat by Western politicians and media, seeking to justify still greater military expenditure and to cover their aggressive military provocations around China. Such irresponsible propaganda has poisoned the minds of hundreds of millions of innocent people, with some even afraid to visit China. To implement China’s five principles of peaceful coexistence with other countries, the People’s Liberation Army has never launched any war against any country, never joined anybody else's war, never subverted any other country’s government nor pushed for regime change. The Chinese Army is a genuine force for peace, aiming to protect its people and motherland from unnecessary suffering caused by international power politics and the law of the jungle that prevail in the world still today.

Happily, tens of millions of foreigners now take advantage of China’s visa-free policy for visits to China and have discovered a modern, friendly, very safe country. They are helping to reveal the truth, including about the People’s Liberation Army.

This article uses a few factual stories to briefly illustrate how the People’s Liberation Army perform their core functions in the past 76 years and why it is actually a force for peace both in China and the world.

As indicated in its name, the People’s Liberation Army comes from the Chinese people voluntarily and serves the Chinese people in return. Its purpose is to serve and protect the interests of the vast majority of people and the interests of the entire nation in China. Under the leadership of the Communist Party, the three core functions of the Army are safeguarding national sovereignty, security, and development. As of today, the Chinese Army has done a very good job carrying out these three functions, helping to create an enabling and peaceful environment for China to modernize itself and for the Chinese people to come to enjoy modern lives.

The Chinese Army prevailed in a couple of unnecessary wars and armed conflicts around its own borders over the last 76 years, most notably its reluctant entry into the Korean War in 1950. This was its biggest military operation since the People's Republic of China was established in 1949 and I will tell that story below.

The Chinese Army has never fought in a major conflict under any other circumstances. Instead, the Chinese Army (including armed the Armed Police), has progressively become the largest peacekeeping force in the United Nations (UN), contributing about 19% of the UN budget for peace missions. China poses no threat to any country, nor in fact to anybody except those who attack its motherland. On the contrary, military provocations and threats from the West, especially the G7 and English-speaking Five-Eye countries, have not stopped to date. They even carried out military provocations in China’s territory in the Yellow Sea and South China Sea, timed to take place during Chinese New Year 2026, just as they have in previous New Years.

Sadly then, our world is far from peaceful. Enjoying lasting peace is in many places a kind of luxury, unattainable for many. Instead, wars kills millions and trample even more innocent people’s basic rights, even their right to survive or their children’s right to go to school. Just take a moment to look at the world: Wars, big or small, are commonplace across the globe, including at times in China’s bordering countries.

Fortunately, China has an Army with clear goals and strong discipline. Their military operations have remained in line with China’s Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence in its Foreign Affairs dealings: 1) Mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, 2) mutual non-aggression, 3) non-interference in internal affairs, 4) equality and mutual benefit, and 5) peaceful coexistence.  At the same time, the Chinese Army always heeds the Party’s call and are ready to fight when necessary. The Army has demonstrated they will sacrifice their interests, even their lives, for the sake of the country (despite the discovery of some bad apples at the top recently.) The Chinese government and people can always count on the Army to help them in the event of large disasters, and even in the cause of large development projects, while remaining ready to defend the country and defeat the enemy whenever foreign aggression occurs on our doorstep.

The primary function of the Army is to safeguard Chinese sovereignty and security, repelling any foreign aggression or threat in any form, at any time.      

In the more than 75 years since the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, until today, the Chinese Liberation Army was dragged into a couple of wars and small-scale armed conflicts, in order to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and security. These were the Korean War with US-led troops, 1950-1953, a relatively minor armed conflict on the border with the Soviet Union in 1969, a short war and limited armed conflicts on the border with India in 1962, 2020 and 2022, and a war (lasting only a fortnight), and minor armed conflicts with Vietnam (1974, 1979, 1988). All of these occurred on China’s borders in response to foreign aggression or provocations. The Chinese Army are not belligerent. The data speak for themselves: Every time, it was on China's border and never was it farther away. The Army adhere to the principle: ‘We will not attack unless attacked.’  However, when China’s sovereignty or security are endangered, they are willing and able to fight and win – at any cost one can imagine.

A potent example is how the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army fought in the Korean War to defend our motherland. Less than a year after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China on October 1st 1949, a civil war between North and South Korea broke out – on June 25, 1950 – with North Korea moving first. China made it clear to the leader of North Korea then that it would not join the war, but would focus on rebuilding our country after eight years of the Anti-Japanese War, followed by three years of civil war. As the new China was not accepted as a member of the United Nations, China asked India, as a diplomatic channel, to deliver China’s request to the UN to respect the 38th Parallel which divided North and South Korea.

During the same period, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 82 which determined that North Korea‘s attack constituted a breach of the peace and demanded the withdrawal of North Korean forces to the 38th parallel. Resolution 83 then recommended UN members provide military assistance to South Korea to repel the attack, while Resolution 84 authorized a Unified Command to be led by the United States, with the eventual participation of 22 countries under United Nations auspices.

The US-led military forces, together with other 16 countries military forces, landed at Inchon on September, 1950. They not only launched counter-offensives but crossed the 38th parallel into North Korea and advanced further north towards the Yalu River, which divides North Korea from China. China’s early request for respecting the 38th parallel to the United Nations had been completely ignored. Instead, the US-led military force moved further towards China’s border, conducting heavy bombing. To support the US-led operation, US President Truman ordered the Seventh Fleet to pass through the Taiwan Strait to deter the Chinese forces. These military moves left China feeling that they were facing an existential threat, especially as China was not yet even recognized as a member of the United Nations. The situation was clear given the USA’s avowed determination to see the defeated government, led by Chiang Kai-shek which had retreated to Taiwan, overthrow the government of the newly established People’s Republic of China with — US help.

Despite its stated intentions not to get involved in the war, China then felt it had no choice but to take military action for its survival and push the US-led troops back behind the 38th Parallel — an artificial line created by the United States and the Soviet Union at the end of Second World War, much as in Germany. This was a very difficult decision for China —  the last thing desired after 11 years of war. Reluctantly, it was decided that China must fight and the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army crossed the Yalu River into North Korea to fend off the US-led forces, engaging in fierce battles from 1950 to 1953， at huge human cost.

Defending our motherland in the Korean war was the biggest military operation of the Chinese Liberation Army since 1949 to date. One may ask what made the Chinese Army so strong that it even defeated the US-led Unified Command with its more modern weapons and greater finances? There is no simple answer, but strong loyalty and belief in the leadership of the Communist Party equipped the military officers and soldiers with a selfless, strong determination and discipline to fight against foreign aggression to defend national sovereignty and Chinese people from experiencing war-related suffering once again.

The Army fought bravely and suffered very heavy casualties, generating many stories of tragedy and heroism. On the night of October 19 in 1952, a 21-year-old Chinese volunteer solider, Mr. Huan Jiguang — on a mission to blow up enemy machine-gun nests — destroyed many machine-gun nests together with his comrades. Running out of ammunition, he crawled towards an enemy bunker and used his own heavily bullet-wounded body to block the enemy’s last machine gun, allowing the Chinese Army to capture the strategic highlands on the west side of Shangganling (The Battle of Triangle Hill to Americans.) In another well-known tragedy, an entire Unit froze to death in November 1950 during the battle of Chosin Reservoir. They came directly from the semi-tropical south of China and were not yet equipped for the -40 Celsius weather; many more officers and soldiers of the 9th Army froze to death while lying in ambush at positions such as Dead Eagle Ridge, choosing to freeze to death rather than expose their ambush position. There are many such stories. Our nation and people have not forgotten these selfless sacrifices in defending our motherland and their heroic deeds have inspired generations of young people to join the army.

Ultimately, the Unified Command led by the United States was forced to sign an armistice agreement, maintaining relative stability on the Korean Peninsula and protecting China's national security, but without ever formally ending the war —  not to this date.

The Chinese Army has similarly demonstrated selflessness and courage in conflicts with India, the Soviet Union and Vietnam. Uniquely, once the Chinese Army defeats an intruding foreign army and pushes them back, they always then quickly return to their regular duty stations within China, never staying to occupy foreign lands.

The Chinese Army safeguards national development, as well as people’s lives and property in big disasters.

As I mentioned earlier, one of the three functions of the Chinese Army is to safeguard national development; they have a long tradition of participation in the national development process. The Chinese Army is an army with strict discipline, from obeying orders to not taking even a needle or thread from civilians. The Chinese Army possesses highly efficient organization, strong personnel and equipment advantages that enable it to rapidly accomplish urgent, difficult and dangerous tasks whenever needed. Such a function is also clearly mandated in the national defense law. More importantly, the Chinese Communist Party, government and Army share the same goal that they should serve the people wholeheartedly. Therefore, policies and actions from them are well integrated, with strong coherency.   

The Chinese Army has also played a large role in infrastructure construction and resource development, including railways, highways, airports, and energy, and improving infrastructures in remote, mountainous and impoverished areas. These logistical capabilities are also integral to military capability, just as is industrial capacity. The Army who were the pioneers of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (across from Hong Kong.) They played a critical role in transforming a backward county of fishing villages and farms into a world-renowned city, now China’s number one manufacturing powerhouse —  host to 25,000 high-tech enterprises such as Huawei, Tencent, BYD, DJI And ZTE. In response to the Party’s call, about 20,000 infrastructure engineering corps started moving into backward finishing villages in successive groups at the end of 1979 and carrying out large-scale construction of infrastructure between 1980-1983. They were then collectively demobilized and absorbed into state-owned enterprises in response to the call of the Party to continue their participation in Shenzhen development process. They were the spark that lit the fires of development. 

In times of crisis caused by large disasters, the strong organization and execution capabilities of the Chinese Army enable them to perform high-intensity search and rescue missions and immediate medical support. For example, a powerful earthquake occurred on May 12, 2008, with a magnitude of 8.2, in Wenchuan County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province. The death toll and casualties were huge, with a total of 45.5 million people affected. Within 48 hours, more than a 100,000 troops had been deployed to the disaster area to carry out search and rescue, and immediate relief. They penetrated the affected region using extreme methods such as parachuting troops and relief supplies into disaster areas, in complex weather conditions and with limited ground intelligence within the epicenter. They cleared roads on foot, rescued the wounded, cleared rubble to secured transport supplies, and eliminated the danger of landslide-dammed lakes. Such operations further strengthen the relationship between the Army and civilians, helping to maintain social stability in such trying times.

The Chinese Army makes a significant contribution to the Peace Missions of the United Nations around the world

China’s Army also makes a large contribution to UN peacekeeping missions, having deployed over 50,000 peacekeepers across 25 UN missions since 1990, for years now the largest troop contributor among the UN Security Council’s permanent members. In addition, China has registered an 8,000-strong, standby force for UN peacekeeping operations. As of 2024, China also provides about 19% of the UN peacekeeping budget, ranking second globally (and always paying on time.)

China initially focused strictly on non-combatant UN roles, focusing on engineering, medical services and transport support. They were sometimes, such as in Sudan, the first to go in. Today, China’s participation has evolved to match the UN's needs, including larger, more heavily armed units including specialized infantry battalions and rapid response forces, to support and protect civilians and other peacekeepers.

At present, China is providing peacekeeping services in seven UN peace missions including South Sudan, DR Congo and Lebanon. As of 2025, more than 20 Chinese peacekeepers have lost their lives on duty, while its peacekeepers have built and repaired more 17,000 kilometers of roads and 300 bridges, as well as providing medical treatment to 246,000 individuals.

Conclusion

The Chinese Army, led by the Chinese Communist Party, has done a great job in performing their three core functions, namely to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development, in line with the Chinese Government's 'peaceful coexistence foreign policy'.

Seventy-five years ago, the Chinese Army, poorly-equipped with weapons and war materials, was not afraid of a more powerful enemy, the US-led military force, and succeeded in getting them to the table for peace talks. The Unified Command led by the United States was forced to sign an armistice agreement, safeguarding China's sovereignty. That success in the 'Korean War' created an enabling environment for China's national development, just as the Chinese Government had so ardently sought.

Fortunately, the Korean War remains the only large war that the Chinese Army has had to fight since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Although there are constant foreign provocations around Chinese territory, constantly testing China's defenses in the air and on the sea, the People’s Liberation Army are capable of keeping them at bay, allowing China's grand rejuvenation to continue.

China is a peace-loving country, thus the Chinese Army is a peacekeeping force both at home and abroad. In three quarters of a century, the Chinese Army, under the leadership of the Communist Party, has never invaded another country, never overthrown or attempted to oust another regime – indeed it has never instigated a war. Instead, it has been the biggest contributor among the UN Security Council’s Permanent Five veto holders of troops to UN Peacekeeping Missions in the world.  Such an Army is not a threat to any country, big or small.

China has one of the best records of peaceful coexistence with other countries, and comes first by far among the UN Permanent Five. Modernization of China's defense is necessary for defending China from foreign military aggression. Such aggression occurs constantly around Chinese territory near the Yellow Sea and South China Sea, including deliberately during China's New Year celebrations in February 2026. Of course, these military provocations, from 10,000 kilometers away, leave almost empty-handed as the Chinese Army always meet them either in the air or in the sea during combat-readiness patrols and are capable of dealing with them professionally (and patiently indeed.) The remarkable record of the Chinese Army makes anti-China Western propaganda about the 'growing Chinese military menace' absurd, indeed quite ridiculous.

Note: China has but one small foreign military base, in Djibouti, alongside the military bases there of the USA, France, Japan, Germany, Italy, and soon – Saudi Arabia. China’s main military activity from that base is to participate in UN anti-piracy patrols off the Somali coast.

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Dr. KAN Fengmin  (China), is a retired senior official of the United Nations Secretariat, responsible for coordination of disaster response and disaster risk reduction. She served as Head of the Asia and Pacific Office of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, based in Bangkok, THAILAND, as Head of Africa Office for the same UN entity, based in Nairobi, KENYA, and as Senior Coordinator in Geneva, SWITZERLAND. Before UNDRR, Dr. Kan worked for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, based in Kobe, JAPAN, coordinating UN humanitarian assistance to Asian countries affected by disasters, as well as for the United Nations Development Program, headquartered in New York, USA, and in the CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC on a peace-building programme. She joined the United Nations Peace Mission in MOZAMBIQUE in 1993, working for the International Organization for Migration as head of their program to assist the reintegration of 115,000 demobilized soldiers during the peace-building process. Dr. Kan has a Ph.D in Social Science from the University of Utrecht, in THE NETHERLANDS.

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