China is struggling to recruit enough highly skilled troops

In February 2023 the PLA navy undertook an unusual mission. Its warships and aircraft were confronting their American counterparts in the South China Sea. Chinese forces were escalating operations around Taiwan too. But the PLA naval command’s new target was to be found in more placid surroundings, such as the leafy campus of elite Tsinghua University in Beijing.

For the first time, the Chinese navy was seeking fighter pilots for its aircraft-carriers among graduating students at Tsinghua and other leading civilian universities. Applicants should be unmarried and under 24 years old, with majors in science, technology and engineering, the navy said. They should “love the air and sea” and have “good vision and suitable nutritional condition”. In another first, women could apply too.