Why did China choose to send Marines instead of integrated army forces when it has military bases overseas?
There are multiple levels of consideration to this issue. First, the Marine Corps has the ability to perform missions at sea and on land, and is more adapted to deal with the complex overseas strategic environment. Secondly, the Marine Corps has a unique advantage in the implementation of special operations and rapid response, which meets the needs of the current international security situation.
In addition, given China's global economy and interests, the security of sea lanes is critical for energy and energy. By dispatching marines, we will be able to protect our maritime rights and interests not only on land, but also at sea, and maintain the overall security of the country. Such a choice not only emphasizes China's comprehensive national strength, but also demonstrates its comprehensive defense against diversified threats.
Overall, the dispatch of the Marine Corps, rather than the Army Composite Force, is a deliberate choice for the needs of the most advanced forces in the era of globalization, taking into account the realities of both maritime and land threats.
At the beginning of 2024, a new round of combat readiness training has been launched for the whole army, and even the marines stationed at the base in Djibouti have been integrated into the ranks of actual combat exercises.
The move sparked widespread discussion, with some questioning why we deploy Marines and not the Army as our ground forces at our overseas military bases.
In fact, there are many reasons for this. First of all, the Djibouti base is a supply base for the Navy, so it is easier to manage the Marines stationed here and avoid cumbersome service coordination.
However, in my opinion, even if the size of the overseas military base is not considered, the Marine Corps is more appropriate than the Army. Why? Let's break it down.
First of all, the combat effectiveness of the Marine Corps is more comprehensive. As we all know, the Army has undergone a synthetic reform to enhance its multifunctional combat capability. But in comparison, the Marine Corps has a higher level of synthesis, which is determined by its special operational needs.
For example, when the Army Composite Brigade is in operation, it can receive various kinds of support from group army-level units, such as intelligence support from the group army's drone unit, fire support from the artillery brigade, and logistics support from the logistics support brigade.
As a result, the Army's Composite Brigade can do everything, and many missions can be supported by higher-level units or friendly units. For example, artillery support, composite brigades can be supported by 155-mm howitzers from army group artillery brigades. Therefore, the composite brigade does not need to be equipped with such heavy artillery, but only with a 122-mm howitzer, which is more suitable for brigade operations.
However, the situation is different with the Marine Corps. Their mission was to carry out a beach-rushing landing, and they were the first troops to land on the beach. When they landed, the follow-up troops had not yet arrived. At this time, they can only rely on the support of themselves and the air and sea forces, and have no support from other ground combat forces.
As a result, the Marine Corps has a higher level of synthesizing of the Marine Corps. In addition to the equipment of general synthetic brigades, they also include 155mm howitzers, medium and large UAVs, and even armed *** and army aviation units. The Marines are more comprehensive in their combat capabilities and are able to deal with landing operations on their own, which the Army Composite Brigade cannot do.
At the same time, the quality of the Marines is higher, as they have to deal with a situation where there are too many men to deal with in most cases. Army units pay attention to coordinated operations, whether it is mobile operations or other tactics, in essence, they use the superiority of time and space to form a local force suppression in order to break through the enemy's defense line. The Marine Corps, on the other hand, is better at dealing with understaffing.
As for the advantages of the deployment of the Marine Corps, it can be viewed from a number of angles.
At present, in terms of China's deployment of military forces abroad, we have not yet reached the point where we can release large-scale ground forces, so we can only send some small teams to make small reports.
On the Djibouti side, for example, we only sent a small number of ground strike forces, and then we brought some logistical supplies.
In this kind of petty overseas military operations, the combat power requirements for our squads are very high, and in this regard, our marines are much more powerful than the army.
On the one hand, the overall quality of the Marine Corps is higher. Their equipment is richer and more diverse, and the corresponding combat forms are more complex.
For example, a Marine Corps has armed *** who can assault in the air, and there is also a transport *** who is responsible for transporting supplies. Even at the squad level, there is no difference from the squad of the Army, and the Marine Corps also has a unique feature, that is, the quality of the team members is higher.
After all, the Marine Corps has to face the situation of fighting less and more, so every member of the team must have a strong military literacy.
Some people say that the Marine Corps is an all-force special forces, which is not quite accurate, but it can also reflect that the Marine Corps has stronger individual combat capabilities and small-scale combat capabilities.
Deploying a Marine Corps company at an overseas base can better cope with the changing environment around you.
In addition, the Djibouti base we said at the beginning is a naval supply depot, and in the short and medium term, most of our overseas military bases will become naval supply depots.
From the perspective of base management and operations, it is more convenient to send Marines to deploy than to send Army.
When will the army be stationed?
Of course, our future overseas military bases will not only be supply depots for the navy, but also air bases and army bases.
It depends on our need to protect overseas interests and the development of our geopolitical diplomacy, anyway, we don't interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, and many times the problem does not need to be solved by garrisons.
Compared with the army base, I think our air base will appear first, because the air base has the potential to become a comprehensive three-service base.
For us, overseas military bases are not much more expensive.
An overseas military base with full functions and comprehensive combat capability can support China's economic, political, diplomatic, and military operations in this region, and play a role in determining the needle of the sea.
Very often, the role of an overseas military base is not in its combat capability, but in its presence and symbolism. Combat capability only needs to meet local security and defense needs.
Therefore, if there is no large-scale overseas local war, we should not build a special army base.
Air bases and naval bases may be manned by the Air Force's Airborne Forces and the Navy's Marines to maintain the base's ground defense capability.
In the future, it is necessary to build a large all-round military base abroad, and only then can the stationing of army combat units there be considered, which is still quite far away.