Aug. 21 – China’s Defense Ministry launched its website yesterday in both English and Chinese giving outsiders an official look at the country’s notoriously secretive armed forces.
The site presents the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) defense policies, equipment and activities. The new website is an effort to engage the media and improve its image both locally and abroad. Only last month, the People’s Liberation Army arranged for journalists to attend a military exercise in Beijing that showed soldiers firing mortars and conducting counterterrorism operations.
The PLA is the largest military force in the world with 3 million members and also has the largest standing army at 2.25 million people. “China is more open to the world. So is the P.L.A.,” an army commander, Col. Leng Jiesong, told media in July. The government site can be accessed here.
