In 2016, the seven military regions of the China were reorganized into the present five theater commands and the term "military region" became obsolete. Chinese theater commands (TC) have been likened to the geographic combatant commands of the United States military; however, China's theater commands do not (reportedly) extend beyond the nation's borders.[2] When listed by the government of the People's Republic of China, the theater commands are, by protocol, presented in order of precedence, as show below.[2][3]
Western Theater Command, headquartered in Chengdu, is responsible for the western half of China including the nation's borders with India and Russia. During peacetime, units under the Western TC largely focus on countering separatist or terrorist threats.
Each theater command is led by both a military commander who is responsible for operations and an equally-ranked political commissar who is responsible for ideological functions of the command in keeping with the values of the CCP. The staff of a theater command's headquarters participates in committee-based decision-making instead of a hierarchical command structure used by most other militaries. Under each theater command are the single-service headquarters for the Ground Force (PLAGF), Air Force (PLAAF), and Navy (PLAN) which adhere to a dual command structure wherein each subordinate service headquarters under a theater command reports to both the theater command it is assigned to and the service's national headquarters. In wartime it is believed these services will fall under the complete operational control of their theater command.[2] Neither the Central nor the Western Theater Command have an assigned PLAN service headquarters due to their smaller coastal profiles.
In December 1954, the existing six major military regions were reorganized into twelve regions: Shenyang (which traces history from the Northeastern Military Region), Beijing, Jinan, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Kunming, Wuhan, Chengdu, Lanzhou, Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia.[5] The former Northwest Military Region, which became the Beijing Military Region, doubled as Beijing-Tianjin Garrison Command. Due to the tension in the Taiwan Straits, the State Council ordered the establishment of the Fuzhou Military Region on 22 April 1956. It included the provincial military districts of Fujian and Jiangsu, formerly under the Nanjing MR. The Fuzhou MR was officially established on 1 July 1956, with Ye Fei as its commander and political commissar.[6]
The thirteen military regions established by 1956 were reduced to eleven in the late 1960s.[7] In 1967, the Inner Mongolia and Tibet Military Regions were downgraded and incorporated into the Beijing and Chengdu Military Regions.[8]
The military regions are divided into military districts, usually contiguous with provinces, and military sub-districts.[9]
In January 2014, Chinese senior military officers revealed that the PLA is planning to reduce the number of military regions from seven to five "military areas" to have joint command with ground, naval, air, and Second Artillery Corps forces. This change was planned to transition their concept of operations from primarily ground-oriented defense to mobile and coordinated movement of all services and to enhance offensive air and naval capabilities into the East China Sea. The coastal Jinan, Nanjing, and Guangzhou regions became three military areas, each with a joint operations command, for projecting power into the Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea. The four other inland military regions were streamlined into two military areas mainly for organizing forces for operations.[10]
Group armies or army groups or combined corps, are corps-level military formations of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force of China. Despite what the name suggests, current Group Armies are not army-level formations, but corps-sized formations commanding 12 to 14 brigades, roughly equivalent to United States Army Corps.
Z-series trains are a train service offered by China National Railway. Z stands for Zhida Tekuai. Most Z-series trains do not have any intermediary stops, not even technical stops for changing locomotives or drivers. However, some of these trains later had a few stops added to their schedule to boost the number of passengers.
The Shenyang Military Region was one of seven military regions for the Chinese People's Liberation Army. It has command and control of military and armed police forces in the three northeast provinces of Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Liaoning, which also form Military Districts. This region is now superseded by the Northern Theater Command.
The Lanzhou Military Region was one of seven military regions in the People's Republic of China. It directed all People's Liberation Army and People's Armed Police forces in Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, and Ngari Prefecture in northwest Tibet. It was headquartered in Lanzhou in Gansu Province. It is bordered to the south by the Chengdu Military Region, and to the north by Mongolia, the Altai Republic, which is a political subdivision of the Russian Federation, and Kazakhstan. This region is now part of the Western Theater Command due to the military reforms of 2015.
Yang Dezhi was a Chinese general and politician. He was senior military officer in the North China Field Army, a veteran of the Korean War and commander in China during the Sino–Vietnamese War.
The national security of China is the coordination of a variety of organizations, including law enforcement, military, paramilitary, governmental, and intelligence agencies that aim to ensure China's national security. China considers three factors in its national security: national sovereignty, security, and development interests.
The history of the administrative divisions of China after 1949 refers to the administrative divisions under the People's Republic of China. In 1949, the communist forces initially held scattered fragments of China at the start of the Chinese Civil War. By late 1949, they controlled the majority of mainland China, forcing the Republic of China government to relocate to Taiwan.
Zhuang Kezhu is a lieutenant general of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) of China. He was the inaugural Commander of the Central Theater Command Air Force, serving from 2016 to 2018. Prior to that, he served as the Air Force Commander of the Beijing Military Region and the Lanzhou Military Region.
The People's Republic of China military reform of 2015 was a major restructuring of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), which flattened the command structure and allowed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to have more control over the military, with the aim of strengthening the combat capability of the PLA.
The Northern Theater Command is one of the five theater commands of the People's Liberation Army, founded on 1 February 2016. Its predecessor is the Shenyang Military Region, Jinan Military Region and Beijing Military Region. Its headquarters is in the Heping District of Shenyang, Liaoning Province. The Northern Theater Command shares borders with North Korea, Russia and Mongolia.
The Eastern Theater Command is one of the five theater commands of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), founded 1 February 2016. It replaced the Nanjing Military Region. The command is headquartered in Nanjing.
Lai Chuanzhu (simplified Chinese: 赖传珠; traditional Chinese: 賴傳珠; pinyin: Lài Chuánzhū; 3 April 1910 – 24 December 1965) or Peng Ying (鹏英) was a general of the People's Liberation Army from Gan County, Jiangxi.
↑ Gucheng Li, A Glossary of Political Terms of the People's Republic of China, Chinese University Press, 1995, ISBN9622016154, 534, citing Record of New China's Military Activities 1949-1959, 379.
↑ Guacheng Li, 1995, ibid., 534, citing Record of New China, 411
↑ Chapter 8, PLA Ground Forces, by Dennis J Blasko, in The People's Liberation Army as Organisation, RAND, CF182, 313
↑ Dennis J. Blasko, "PLA Ground Forces: Moving towards a Smaller, More Rapidly Deployable, Modern Combined Arms Force," The PLA as Organization, ed. James C. Mulvenon and Andrew N.D. Yang (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2002), 313.
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