ENG:
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China. It consists of four services — Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, and Rocket Force — and four arms — Aerospace Force, Cyberspace Force, Information Support Force, and Joint Logistics Support Force. It is led by the Central Military Commission (CMC) with its chairman as commander-in-chief.

The PLA can trace its origins during the Republican Era to the left-wing units of the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT) when they broke away in 1927 in an uprising against the nationalist government as the Chinese Red Army, before being reintegrated into the NRA as units of New Fourth Army and Eighth Route Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The two NRA communist units were reconstituted as the PLA in 1947. Since 1949, the PLA has used nine different military strategies, which it calls "strategic guidelines". The most important came in 1956, 1980, and 1993. Politically, the PLA and the paramilitary People's Armed Police (PAP) have the largest delegation in the National People's Congress (NPC); the joint delegation has 285 deputies − over 9% of the total − all of whom are CCP members.

The PLA is not a traditional nation-state military. It is a part, and the armed wing, of the CCP and controlled by the party, not by the state. The PLA's primary mission is the defense of the party and its interests. The PLA is the guarantor of the party's survival and rule, and the party prioritizes maintaining control and the loyalty of the PLA. According to Chinese law, the party has leadership over the armed forces and the CMC exercises supreme military command; the party and state CMCs are practically a single body by membership. The CCP general secretary chairs the CMC; this grants significant political power as the only member of the Politburo Standing Committee with direct responsibilities for the armed forces. The Ministry of National Defense has no command authority; it is the PLA's interface with state and foreign entities and insulates the PLA from external influence.

Today, the majority of military units around the country are assigned to one of five theatre commands by geographical location. The PLA is the world's largest military force (not including paramilitary or reserve forces) and has the second largest defence budget in the world. China's military expenditure was US$296 billion in 2023, accounting for 12 percent of the world's defence expenditures. It is also one of the fastest modernizing militaries in the world, and has been termed as a potential military superpower, with significant regional defence and rising global power projection capabilities.

In addition to wartime arrangements, the PLA is also involved in the peacetime operations of other components of the armed forces. This is particularly visible in maritime territorial disputes where the navy is heavily involved in the planning, coordination and execution of operations by the PAP's China Coast Guard.

CN:
中国人民解放军，通称人民解放军及解放军，是中华人民共和国主要的武装力量。中国人民解放军由陆军、海军、空军、火箭军四大军种以及军事航天部队、网络空间部队、信息支援部队、联勤保障部队等四个独立兵种组成。中国人民解放军自成立起坚持“党指挥枪”原则，由中央军事委员会领导，中共中央军委主席统率全军。

中国人民解放军的历史可以追溯到1927年8月1日的南昌起义，中国共产党领导的国民革命军部队。1946年左右解放军之称呼开始出现，随后1947年10月10日，中国共产党主席毛泽东起草的《中国人民解放军宣言》里正式启用现名至今。该军队在中国共产党历史与中华人民共和国历史上发挥了重要作用，并参加了解放战争、抗日战争、抗美援朝战争、1962年对印自卫反击战、中苏边境冲突、对越自卫反击战等历次战争。

当前，中国人民解放军共设五个战区司令部，有200万名现役军人，为世界上规模最大的正规军队（不包括准军事部队或预备役部队）。中国人民解放军是世界上现代化最快的军队之一，坐拥世界第二大的国防预算并遂年增加，军费上支出仅次于美国，被广泛认为是潜在的军事超级大国，具有强大的区域防御及拒止能力，全球力量投射也在快速增长。此外，解放军还拥有世界上规模最庞大的陆军、军舰吨位总数世界第二但数量第一的海军，以及拥有第五代战斗机歼-20的亚洲最庞大的空军。另外，中国人民解放军还拥有由洲际弹道导弹、弹道导弹核潜艇、战略轰炸机所组成的完整三位一体核打击能力，因而被广泛认为是亚太地区最庞大，实力最强的武装力量。