Petty officers account for half of Chinese soldiers

Chinanews, Beijing, July 2 – In China, the number of petty officers, or noncommissioned officers (NCO), now accounts for half of the total number of soldiers. High-tech troops account for 70%-80% of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), and 85% of the petty officers work in grass roots levels.   The "noncommissioned officers" is a term originating from foreign countries, and the NCO system has existed in the world for hundreds of years. There are NCOs in many countries. As assistants to officers, the NCOs help the latter to manage and train soldiers and to direct soldiers to fulfill military tasks. The NCO system was not brought into China until the late 1970s.   According to Li Jianbo, head of the Military Affairs Department of the Beijing Military Area Command, China formally introduced the NCO system following the suggestions of late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping who said that China should set up a system to make soldiers who had grasped certain skills or technologies serve in the military all their life.   The NCO system was started in China in 1978. At that time, petty officers were called volunteers. In 1998, when China revised its military service law, the length of service for compulsory soldiers was shortened from three to two years. The revised law stipulates that Chinese soldiers comprise both compulsory and volunteer soldiers, and that petty officer is a rank that given to soldiers who are willing to stay in the army after termination of their compulsory service period. According to the revised law, petty officers can serve in the army for 30 years at most. High-ranking NCOs enjoy the same treatment as that given to regimental officers and can serve in the army until they retire.   “At present, petty officers have formed an important part of the specialized force of the Chinese armed forces. Many positions that require soldiers to master a certain level of technical skills, especially complicated key technical skills in armour, missile guiding, telecommunications, radar, naval vessels, and aviation, are all taken by petty officers. The squad leaders in the organizational system of the army are all petty officers, ” Li said.   According to the latest national defense white paper, in 2006 China downsized the PLA officers by 170,000, and 70,000 NCOs were assigned to take officers' positions as a result of this downsizing.