China’s ‘two sessions’: PLA calls for more civilian tech inputs in military modernisation

PLA Daily report cites call from military delegates at annual political gathering as Beijing pushes ‘military-local collaboration’

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Military delegates arrive to attend a plenary meeting during China’s annual “two sessions”, in Beijing on Monday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 6:31pm, 10 Mar 2025

People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officers have urged Beijing to allocate more civilian resources, especially in emerging technologies, to support military development and war readiness, according to the official newspaper of the Chinese armed forces.

PLA deputies to the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, and military members of its top advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), made the call during Beijing’s annual political gathering known as the “two sessions”, the PLA Daily said in a report on Monday.

Joint planning and resource-sharing between the PLA and local governments was the focus of discussions within the military delegation this year, as Beijing pushes “military-local collaboration”.

Examples and detailed information cited by the PLA deputies included land-use planning for military site construction and the creation of joint military-local labs, the report said, reflecting China’s increased all-round efforts to modernise its military.

“We need to innovate the model of transforming local emerging field resources into war [preparation],” NPC deputy Liu Shuwei, a lieutenant general in the PLA Air Force, was quoted as saying by the PLA daily.

Liu also called for research centres focused on key areas such as unmanned systems and underwater and cyberspace warfare.