China issues new rules for military procurement

Chinese President Xi Jinping has signed into law new guidelines to enhance the contracting and procurement of military equipment.

The so-called ‘Interim provisions on the supervision and administration of military equipment procurement contracts' came into force on 20 March.

The procedure is aligned with other recently enacted reforms designed to enhance the combat capability and readiness of China's military, the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

China's official Xinhua News Agency said the newly launched provisions will advance the “quality and efficiency” of China's military procurement.

It said the guidelines outline the “system for the supervision and management of equipment procurement contracts under new circumstances”.

Xinhua added that the new policy “defines” and “optimises” the management of procurement to “ensure that qualified military equipment is delivered to troops”.

The new provisions are likely linked to ‘Army equipment order regulations' that were introduced by Beijing in October 2021. These were described by Xinhua at the time as “basic rules governing military equipment procurement”.

According to Xinhua, the regulations issued in October sought to enhance a “military modernisation management concept” intended to improve equipment procurement procedures while also resolving “contradictory problems that restrict equipment development”.

Additional procurement rules were introduced in January 2021 and, as the title of the newly issued guidelines suggests, other procedures are likely to be issued soon.