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FACTS & STATISTICS
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Armed forces growth
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-28 |
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[99th of 132]
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Armed forces personnel
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2,810,000 |
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[1st of 166]
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Conscription
Selective conscription (FWCC). |
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Conventional arms exports
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$125,000,000.00 |
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[13th of 40]
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Conventional arms imports
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$2,238,000,000.00 |
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[2nd of 85]
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Expenditures > Dollar figure
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$55,910,000,000.00 |
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[2nd of 170]
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Exports to developing nations
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$6,372.00 million |
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[5th of 7]
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Iraq pledges of reconstruction aid
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$25,000,000.00 |
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[17th of 40]
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Manpower > Availability > Males age 15-49
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375,520,000 |
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[1st of 175]
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Manpower > Military age
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18 |
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[56th of 129]
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personnel
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3,755,000
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...
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[1st of 170]
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personnel > % of total labor force
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0.48 %
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...
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[123rd of 168]
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Service age and obligation
18-22 years of age for compulsory military service, with 24-month service obligation; no minimum age for voluntary service (all officers are volunteers); 18-19 years of age for women high school graduates who meet requirements for specific military jobs (2007) |
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Tanks
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11,000 tanks |
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[3rd of 22]
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Weapon holdings
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34,281,000 |
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[2nd of 137]
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WMD > Biological
China ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in December 1996, declaring two former chemical weapons (CW) production facilities that may have produced mustard gas and Lewisite. Since 1997, China has hosted 14 on-site inspections by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Although China claims that it no longer possesses any CW stockpiles, the U.S. government believes that China has not revealed the full scope of its program. China has signed a bilateral agreement with Japan to destroy CW that Japan abandoned in Chinese territory during World War II. |
WMD > Chemical
China ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in December 1996, declaring two former chemical weapons (CW) production facilities that may have produced mustard gas and Lewisite. Since 1997, China has hosted 14 on-site inspections by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Although China claims that it no longer possesses any CW stockpiles, the U.S. government believes that China has not revealed the full scope of its program. China has signed a bilateral agreement with Japan to destroy CW that Japan abandoned in Chinese territory during World War II. |
WMD > Missile
China has produced and deployed a wide range of ballistic missiles, ranging from short-range missiles to intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). China's missiles are operated by the Second Artillery Corps, and include about 650 DF-11 (M-11) and DF-15 (M-9) missiles opposite Taiwan; several dozens of DF-3, DF-4, and DF-21 medium-range missiles that can reach Japan, India, and Russia; and 18-24 DF-5 ICBMs that can reach the United States and Europe. A transition is currently underway from relatively inaccurate, liquid-fueled, silo/cave-based missiles (DF-3, DF-4, DF-5) to more accurate, solid-fueled, mobile missiles (DF-11, DF-15, and DF-21, and a new ICBM [the DF-31] and SLBM [the JL-2], which are currently under development). China is replacing its older DF-5 missiles with new DF-5A variants, which may eventually be equipped with multiple warheads. A key question is how US deployment of ballistic missile defense (former known as theater and national missile defense) will affect the pace and scope of Chinese strategic modernization. Chinese missile exports have been a problem for more than a decade. China transferred 36 DF-3 medium-range missiles to Saudi Arabia in 1988, and supplied Pakistan with 34 M-11 short-range missiles in 1992. China has provided technology and expertise to the missile programs of several countries, including Pakistan, Iran, and North Korea. China has not joined the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), but has pledged to abide by its main parameters. In November 2000, China promised not to assist any country in the development of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. In August 2002, China issued regulations and a control list restricting the export of missiles and missile technology. Since 2004, China has been engaged in consultation with the MTCR; however, its application for membership was not successful in the regime's latest plenary meeting in Seoul, South Korea, in October 2004. Concerns about Chinese missile technology transfers continue. |
WMD > Nuclear
China's nuclear weapons program began in 1955 and culminated in a successful nuclear test in 1964. Since then, China has conducted 45 nuclear tests, including tests of thermonuclear weapons and a neutron bomb. The series of nuclear tests in 1995-96 prior to China's signature of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) may have resulted in a smaller and lighter warhead design for the new generation of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) now under development. China is estimated to have about 400 strategic and tactical nuclear weapons, and stocks of fissile material sufficient to produce a much larger arsenal. China joined the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 1984 and acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1992 as a nuclear weapon state. China provided nuclear reactors and technology to several countries in the 1980s and early 1990s, including design information and fissile material that reportedly helped Pakistan develop nuclear weapons. Since the early 1990s, China has improved its export controls, including the promulgation of regulations on nuclear and nuclear dual-use exports and has pledged to halt exports of nuclear technology to un-safeguarded facilities. In 2002 China ratified the IAEA Additional Protocol, the first and only nuclear weapons state to do so. |
WMD > Overview
China possesses nuclear weapons, a range of ballistic missile capabilities, and the ability to develop chemical and biological weapons. A key uncertainty is how ongoing military modernization efforts will ultimately reshape China's strategic nuclear capabilities, but U.S. deployments of missile defenses are likely to be a key variable. Serious concerns remain about China's proliferation of ballistic missile technology and its ability to control chemical items that could be used in the production of chemical weapons. Improved export control laws and enforcement have addressed many (but not all) concerns about nuclear and chemical weapons-related proliferation. |
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SOURCES: calculated on the basis of data on armed forces from IISS (International Institute for Strategic Studies). 2001. The Military Balance 2001-2002. Oxford: Oxford University Press; IISS (International Institute for Strategic Studies). 2001. The Military Balance 2001-2002. Oxford: Oxford University Press; Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland, 1997. Data collected from the nations concerned, unless otherwise indicated. Acronyms: Amnesty International (AI); European Council of Conscripts Organizations (ECCO); Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC); International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHFHR); National Interreligious Service Board for Conscientious Objectors (NISBCO); Service, Peace and Justice in Latin America (SERPAJ); War Resisters International (WRI); World Council of Churches (WCC); SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute). 2005. SIPRI Arms Transfers. Database. February. Stockholm.; CIA World Factbook, 28 July 2005; Richard F. Grimmett, "Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 1992-1999" (Washington: Congressional Research Service, August 18, 2000), p. 51; US Department of Defense. The Brookings Institution Iraq Index, April 24, 2006.; CIA World Factbook, December 2003; World Development Indicators database; CIA World Factbook, 14 June, 2007
; Dr T.R. O'Connor, (05/15/04); Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC); The Nuclear Threat Initiative
ALTERNATIVE NAMES:
China, People's Republic of China, Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo, Zhong Guo, China; Peoples Republic of, China, People's Republic, China, People's Rep, China, People's Rep. of, China PR
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