Special forces such as the American Green Berets
long ago attained a kind of mythical status,
and most militaries around the world now field proficient special forces.
The same is true of the People's Liberation Army (PLA),
the world's largest military,
which boasts special operations units across all four of its services.
Now,
China is creating special forces that want to defeat US special forces
Actually,
the PLA was a relative latecomer to the party as it did not possess
any special forces until around 1988 when the first "special-mission rapid reaction unit"
was established in the Guangzhou Military Region in southern China.
It is useful to ask just how special PLA special forces are,
since their profile and function are kept relatively low even within China itself.
Each corps in the PLA ground forces,
of which there are 13 after a major restructuring announced in April 2017,
has its own Special Forces brigade.
In addition to that,
Chinese Navy,
Air Force and Rocket Force all have their own special forces,
as does the People's Armed Police (PAP) that is responsible
for internal security and counter terrorism within China.
The PAP leads counter terrorism efforts at home,
but Chinese Special Operation Forces would be liable
to conduct this type of mission overseas.
An accurate and up to date order of battle of Chinese
Special Operation Forces units is difficult to obtain,
but the following units are believed to exist according to research by Peter Wood,
a defense analyst at TextOre,
a US-based open source intelligence company.
The locations of each unit are approximate the following :
Eastern Theater Command consists of 71st Sharks Corps in Jiangsu,
72nd Thunderbolts Corps in Zhejiang,
and 73rd Dragons of the East Sea Corps in Fujian.
Southern Theater Command comprises 74th Corps,
this corps is an unidentified unit in Guangdong,
75th Sword of the South Corps in Guangdong,
a battalion in the Hong Kong Garrison,
and the Lions company in Macau.
Western Theater Command covers 76th Sirius Corps in Ningxia,
77th Cheetahs Corps in Sichuan,
Snow Leopards of the Plateau in Lhasa, Tibet,
and Snowy Owls and Sharp Blade of the Kunlun in Xinjiang Military District.
Northern Theater Command comprises 78th Tigers of the Northeast Corps in Jilin,
79th Lions Corps in Liaoning,
and 80th Falcons Corps in Shandong.
Central Theater Command,
81st Sacred Sword of the East Corps in Hebei,
82nd Whistling Arrows Corps in Beijing,
and 83rd Ferocious Tigers of the Central Plain Corps in Henan.
Turning to the navy,
it has a number of smaller SOF units amongst the Chinese Navy Marine Corps.
The 5th and 6th Marine Brigades of the North Sea Fleet have a special forces element.
the 3rd and 4th Marine Brigades of the East Sea Fleet
also possess a special forces element.
Including South Sea Fleet,
the 1st and 2nd Marine Brigades have a special forces element,
plus the Chinese Navy itself boasts the "Sea Dragons" unit
or Jiaolong Commandos located in Hainan.
Personnel from the "Sea Dragons" have deployed on
every Chinese Navy task force to the Gulf of Aden since 2008.
The Chinese Air Force features the "Thunder Gods"
Special Operation Forces unit among the Airborne Corps based in Hubei.
This unit only being created in 2011.
The Chinese Army Rocket Force also has the "Sharp Blade"
special forces unit located in Qinghai,
to protect Base 64 and to act as an enemy blue force for peacetime training.
A special forces brigade is estimated to have a strength of approximately 2,000 personnel,
although one well-known American expert on the Chinese military,
Dennis J. Blasko,
a former defense attache stationed in Beijing, commented:
"Nonetheless,
despite their growth in recent years,
the number of Chinese SOF personnel also is relatively small
for such a large army and their missions are mostly
focused on commando-style operations.
In an estimate offered several years ago,
Blasko believes Chinese special forces total 20,000-30,000 personnel.
It is likely that that number has risen since then.
Regardless,
it will be considerably smaller than the close to 70,000 Special Operation Forces troops
contained within the US military's Special Operations Command
(USSOCOM).
Blasko writing for The Jamestown Foundation,
assessed that Chinese troops would be "tasked with a limited number
of strategic-level missions deep behind enemy lines",
and that "the majority of Chinese Army SOF operations
would likely be conducted relatively close to and in support of larger conventional units
in what most often resemble commando or reconnaissance missions".
Blasko said,
Chinese Special Operation Forces units thus have a focus on battlefield-level operations
where they would typically support division-and brigade-level formations,
or at best theater commanders.
Another major difference is the experience level of troops,
especially if one compares Chinese units to American ones.
Flush with nonstop combat experience in places like Afghanistan,
Iraq and Syria,
American operators are among the most battle-hardened in the world.
The PLA lacks this kind of combat experience,
even if they do train hard and are now regularly dispatched to places
like Djibouti and the Gulf of Aden.
For its part,
the US Department of Defense notes:
"China has prioritized development of these forces for the past 20 years
and this has resulted in a special-purpose force that is equipped with advanced technology,
contains highly trained personnel,
and is capable of being mobilized in the early stages of conflict to attack
key personnel and infrastructure targets and to secure
air facilities for use by follow-on forces