| #1107 |  | 1265 |  |
November 13, 2013 |  | By Dr Monika Chansoria | ||
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A working meeting of the Military Information-Retrieval Language Compilation and Management Committee of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was recently held on November 1, 2013 in The Military Subject Terms Compilation Committee of the PLA was founded way back in 1987 and later was renamed the Military Information-Retrieval Language Compilation and Management Committee in May 2011. This outfit is primarily responsible for compilation, management, application, theoretical research and standardisation of military information-retrieval language of the PLA. It was reported that Liu Sheng, Deputy Director of PLA’s General Armaments Department (GAD), Liu Chengjun, President of the Academy of Military Sciences (AMS), and Sun Sijing, Political Commissar of the AMS attended this meeting. The GAD is the leading organ responsible for the policymaking and supervision of weapon system design, development, production, procurement, maintenance, and the life-cycle management across all services in the PLA. Established in 1998 by merging the Commission of Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defence (COSTIND) with few other organisations in the General Staff Department and General Logistics Department, the GAD ranks fourth among the four general headquarters in PLA’s protocol order, and is headed by the Department Head and Political Commissar, Wang Hongyao, who are assisted by four deputy heads and a deputy political commissar. As per the Chinese government’s White Papers, the GAD administers the provision of equipment for the armed forces. Under it are departments in charge of overall planning, equipment for all services and arms, procurement for Army's military equipment R&D, general-purpose equipment support, electronic information infrastructure, etc. Its main responsibilities are to formulate strategies, programmes and plans, policies, and rules and regulations for equipment development, organise equipment R&D, experimentation, procurement, combat service, maintenance and support, and administer the PLA’s funds for equipment buildup. In the past few years, the GAD’s focus on high tech knowledge has been evident by virtue of regular lectures being held on the subject—a follow up of instructions issued by former CMC Chairman Hu Jintao. Hu emphasised upon intensive and sustained efforts on high-tech knowledge, for which the GAD mapped out a detailed plan. In this reference, a talk on “National S&T Innovation Program and S&T Innovation Development of National Defense,” was organised earlier which explicitly focused on scientific and technological innovation and the revolution in military affairs. These forums are often considered to being a platform for putting forth breakthroughs achieved by the In what can be described as paving way for cadres to enhance their caliber, the Artillery and Air Defense Equipment Technology Research Institute of the GAD undertook a bold decision of using cadres with high academic credentials in its research work. Moreover, a specific training mechanism for these cadres was established so as to help them update their knowledge at regular intervals. Resultantly, scientific and technical cadres with high academic credentials today constitute the backbone of scientific research in the above-mentioned institute. The purpose of most of these initiatives is to prevent rusting of cadres wherein obsolete knowledge significantly hinders the sustainable enhancement of hi-tech innovation capacities. The Party Committee of the institute sent several batches of cadres with high academic credentials to attend advanced study courses and simultaneously organised their interaction with field troops and participation in key scientific research projects in order to enhance their ability. The author is a Senior Fellow at CLAWS
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