Paramilitary forces of China

The Chinese Paramilitary Forces are composed of three main forces, the People's Armed Police (PAP), the People's Liberation Army militia, and the reserve force, and they act as auxiliaries to the People's Liberation Army Ground Force. They generally perform a wide range of roles. Altogether, the paramilitary has 7,610,000 troops, as of 2016.

The People's Armed Police Force (PAPF) is a paramilitary police force primarily responsible for law enforcement and internal security nationwide during peacetime. In time of war, the PAP would be used as light infantry to support the PLA. According to the constitution of the PRC, the PAP is one of three integral elements of the Chinese armed forces, along with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the militia and reserve forces. The China's National Defence White Paper published in 2006 claimed that the total strength of the PAP was 1.5 million people.

The role of the militia and the degree of party and PLA control over it have varied over the years. Now-a-days the PLA Milita numbers some 3 million service men and women . During the 1940s the militia served primarily as a PLA support force. After 1949 the party consolidated control over the country and gradually used the militia to maintain order and help the PLA with defense of the borders and coast. In the mid-1950s Minister of National Defense Peng Dehuai attempted to build a reserve system incorporating the militia. Peng's efforts were thwarted when the party expanded the militia, assigning it duties as a production force and internal security force during the Great Leap Forward. Lin Biao reduced the size of the militia and reemphasized military training in the early 1960s. The militia was fragmented during the early years of the Cultural Revolution, but in the 1970s it was rebuilt and redirected to support the PLA. The Gang of Four attempted to build up the urban militia as an alternative to the PLA, but the urban militia failed to support the Gang of Four in 1976, when Hua Guofeng and moderate military leaders deposed them. The militia's logistical support of the PLA was essential during the Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979. In the 1980s Chinese leaders undertook to improve the militia's military capabilities by reducing its size and its economic tasks. when China was founded, CPC claimed a militia of 5.5 million.

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