The Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission (JSDCMC) () is the command organ and the headquarters for the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

(PLA), superseding the former

PLA General Staff Department The Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission (JSDCMC) () is the command organ and the headquarters for the People's Liberation Army (PLA), superseding the former PLA General Staff Department (GSD). It was established on 11 J ...

(GSD). It was established on 11 January 2016, under the military reforms of Central Military Commission (CMC)

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...

. Headquartered in Beijing, the Joint Staff Department (JSD) is under the absolute leadership of the CMC and likely serves as an institutional link between members of the CMC and post-2016 PLA theater commands. According to the JSD, its main duties include carrying out combat support planning and combat command support, studying and formulating military strategy and requirements, organizing combat capability assessment, arranging and instructing joint training; and combat readiness and routine war preparedness work.

Organization

Prior to the 2016 transition, the General Staff Department comprised the following bureaus: * Combat Operations Command * Combat Communications * Intelligence * Mobilization * Electronic Warfare * Foreign Relations * Management Within the present Joint Staff Department are the following bureaus: * General Office (办公厅) * Guard Bureau (警卫局) * Political Work Bureau (政治工作局) * Operations Bureau (作战局) * Strategic Campaign Training Bureau (战略战役训练局) * Intelligence Bureau (情报局) * Navigation Bureau (导航局) * Information and Communications Bureau (信息通信局) * Battlefield Environmental Protection Bureau (战场环境保障局) * Military Requirements Bureau (军事需求局) The

Intelligence Bureau of the Joint Staff Department The Intelligence Bureau of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission () is one of the People's Republic of China's primary intelligence organizations and the principal military intelligence organ of the People's Liberation Ar ...

, formerly the 2nd Bureau or '2PLA' under the GSD, is the most well-known bureau subordinate to the JSD for its role in

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

List of Chiefs

Since August 2017, the Chief of Joint Staff Department is General

Li Zuocheng Li Zuocheng (; born October 1953) is a general of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China, currently serving as the chief of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission. Between 2015 and 2017, he served as the inaugural Com ...

. The current deputy chiefs are Lieutenant General Ma Yiming, and Major General Shao Yuanming. Prior to the 2016 rename, department heads were referred to as Chief of the General Staff Department. , - style="text-align:center;" , colspan=7, ''Vacant''
1971–75 , - , - style="text-align:center;" , colspan=7, ''General Staff Department is renamed to Joint Staff Department'' , -

Organization

List of Chiefs

References

See also