(ORF) China’s New Cold Start Military Posture and Implications for India

This piece is derived from a longer piece published on CSIS Chinapower on November 24, 2025.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is slowly heading towards a new “cold start-style" military operational posture. Under this posture, the goal is to conduct rapid, high-intensity offensive operations before an adversary can mobilise or intervene. This change is part of the PLA’s larger mobilisation reforms, which China initiated in 2017–18. However, it was not until 2022 that the PLA started moving in the direction of the Cold Start operational military posture. Former United States (US) House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan gave the Chinese armed forces an excuse to implement these reforms in real-time in military exercises and drills around Taiwan.

The Chinese armed forces have also implemented these changes on a relatively limited scale in the Tibet and Xinjiang Military Districts. However, unlike other initiatives, which are typically first introduced in the Eastern Theater Command (ETC)—often viewed as a testing ground for military reforms—the PLA has more effectively achieved its cold start operational military posture in Tibet, Xinjiang, and potentially the entire Western Theater Command (WTC). These regions are collectively responsible for addressing contingencies involving India.

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