"How potent is China’s People’s Liberation Army? That question is assuming new importance as China ramps up reclamation activities in the South China Sea that will give it airstrips and docks to project military might if it chooses. Lately, China has shown willingness to throw its weight around. America’s response will be shaped in part by assumptions it makes about the strength of the forces it’s up against. Yet the answer, in the assessment of some of the world’s leading independent experts on the Chinese military, is perhaps a surprising one: The PLA isn’t nearly as powerful as it is often made out to be.
"The last time the PLA went to war was in 1979 against Vietnam, when it got a bloody nose.
"In a February report, 'Ten Reasons Why China Will Have Trouble Fighting a Modern War,' Dennis J Blasko, a former US Army attaché in Beijing, points to the PLA’s divided command structure. Responsibility at every level of the PLA is shared between professional officers and political commissars. Nobody knows how that will work out in fast-moving combat, he says. * * *Mr. Blasko also suggests an opening for diplomacy as he writes that most senior PLA leaders likely prefer to avoid conflict because they, more than anybody, understand China’s shortcomings.
My comment:
(a) There is no need to read the rest, because the reporter presents no evidence whatsoever. Ultimately, nobody knows whether PLA is battle worthy, because it has not fought a battle for decades. (The same can be said about Taiwan's military.)
(b)
(i) Dennis J Blasko, Ten Reasons Why China Will Have Trouble Fighting a Modern War. War on the Rocks, Feb 18, 2015.
warontherocks.com/2015/02/ten-reasons-why-china-will-have-trouble-fighting-a-modern-war/
(the last two sentences: "China’s chances of success will vary according to where and when the battle is fought and who the enemy is. PLA confidence in winning will increase the closer to China it can operate and preferably if it confronts a lower-technology, less skilled enemy not backed by a powerful friend or ally")
(ii) Jane Perlez, 前美国驻华武官：中国打不了现代战争. Feb 25, 2015
cn.nytimes.com/china/20150225/c25military/
, which is translated from
Jane Perlez, US Expert Finds Faults in Chinese Military Command. New York Times, Feb 23, 2015 (blog).
The blog basically recites (i). So if you read (b)(i), there is no need to read (b)(ii).
(c)
(i) Dennis J Blasko. CNA Corp, undated www.cna.org/about/staff/dennis-blasko
("Army attaché in Beijing from 1992 to 1995 and in Hong Kong from 1995 to 1996. * * * Blasko is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and the Naval Postgraduate School")
* He wrote two books, both of which had exactly the same title, by the same publisher (Routledge). The first and second editions were published in 2005 and 2012, respectively.
(ii) About Us. CNA Corp, undated www.cna.org/about
("CNA Corporation is a nonprofit research organization that operates the Center for Naval Analyses and the Institute for Public Research")
* Center for Naval Analyses
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Naval_Analyses
(a non-profit military research organization funded by the US government; Founded 1942; Location Arlington, Virginia)