![image: [ China's military training is years behind other military powers ]](/olmedia/75000/images/_77899_china300.jpg)
According to the official Xinhua news agency the exercises mark another milestone in the Chinese military's modernisation drive. China has long realised that its vast military machine is ungainly and simply years behind other major military powers in terms of equipment and training.
The American high-technology blitzkrieg employed during the Gulf War has been closely studied in Chinese military circles and lessons are being drawn.
China aspires to a military arsenal that can dominate an opponent both on the battlefield, in space, and on the new emerging front lines like information warfare. But for the immediate future, China is seeking to bolster its more traditional arsenal, giving both its air force and navy a much longer reach.
Defence spending has been significantly boosted and over the next three years China plans to cut some 500,000 troops from the three million strong Peoples Liberation Army. This is part of a much broader restructuring to give a leaner more flexible military machine.
The declaration by China that these exercises are intended to practice winning a major regional conflict may be seen as threatening by Taiwan. It too has pursued a significant modernisation of its air and naval forces and has also announced military exercises planned for the coming weeks.
In the past, large-scale military manoeuvres, particularly naval exercises by China in the Taiwan Straits have provoked tension. As yet though, the exact role of the Chinese Navy in the forthcoming exercises is not clear.
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