Training ground

The M base has been used as an integrated training ground for war games since the 1950s. In the wake of the reorganization of the forces in 2017, the area started to be used for large-scale, division-level combined simulations.

An army's success in operations is based on excellence in training and preparation, yet the PLA at large hasn't experienced real combat for decades, which affects war-games' training standards and the work style of commanding officers.

In the minds of many officers and soldiers, there is no serious threat to the country in peacetime, only peaceful development.

Quite the contrary, the senior officer said: "A serious threat of war does exist."

Some high-ranking officers have pointed out that some soldiers are in uniform but they don't know the strategy or tactics of war. They are more intent on trading their positions of privilege for material gain than in preparing to fight for the country, he said.

During a war game at the M base last year, a mechanized battalion got lost at the junction of two roads when the lead detachment took a wrong turn. By the time the mistake was discovered, two-thirds of the troops had already passed the junction. It took them more than an hour to change direction.

"This would be a fatal mistake if it happened in an actual war," says Wang Wei, deputy commander of the base. "Some troops think of combat training as a performance. The command personnel sit around the command post, waiting for information. Under these circumstances, much of the information the scouts obtained was either false or useless. Very few were accurate."