The Southern Theater Command () is one of the five theater commands of 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, ...

, founded on 1 February 2016. Its predecessor was the

Guangzhou Military Region The Guangzhou Military Region was from 1955 to 2016 one of the People's Liberation Army PLA Military Regions, located in the south of the People's Republic of China. In May 1949, the Central China (Hua Zhong) Military Region (MR) was formed. In M ...

. Its jurisdiction includes

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ( ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly ...

and the

South Sea Fleet The Southern Theater Command Navy (), or the South Sea Fleet (SSF; ) is one of the three fleets of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, operating in the South China Sea under the Southern Theater Command. It is headquartered in Zhanjiang, Gu ...

, as well as the Special Administrative Regions of

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta ...

and

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

. Its commander is General Wang Xiubin and its political commissar is General Wang Jianwu.

Area of responsibility

Southern Theater Command's area of responsibility (AOR) includes

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

(

Mainland Southeast Asia Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

) and the South China Sea. The command's primary missions are maintaining security in the South China Sea and likely supporting the

Eastern Theater Command 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. Its jurisdiction includes Ji ...

in any major amphibious operation against

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

Organizational structure

The Southern Theater Command consists of the following components: * Southern Theater Command Ground Force **

74th Group Army The 74th Group Army (), formerly the 42nd Group Army, is a military formation of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Ground Forces (PLAGF). The 74th Group Army is one of twelve total group armies of the PLAGF, the largest echelon of ground forc ...

*** 1st Amphibious Combined Arms Brigade *** 125th Amphibious Combined Arms Brigade *** 132rd Light Combined Arms Brigade *** 163rd Light Combined Arms Brigade *** 154th Medium Combined Arms Brigade *** 16th Heavy Combined Arms Brigade *** 74th Special Operations Brigade *** 74th Army Aviation Brigade *** 74th Artillery Brigade *** 74th Air Defense Brigade *** 74th Engineer and Chemical Defense Brigade *** 74th Sustainment Brigade ** 75th Group Army *** 32nd Mountain Combined Arms Brigade *** 37th Light Combined Arms Brigade *** 42nd Light Combined Arms Brigade *** 122nd Medium Combined Arms Brigade *** 31st Heavy Combined Arms Brigade *** 123rd Heavy Combined Arms Brigade *** 121st Air Assault Brigade *** 75th Special Operation Brigade *** 75th Artillery Brigade *** 75th Air Defense Brigade *** 75th Engineer and Chemical Defense Brigade *** 75th Sustainment Brigade * Southern Theater Command Navy (

) ** 2nd Destroyer Detachment ** 9th Destroyer Detachment ** 17th Frigate Detachment ** 18th Frigate Detachment ** 19th Frigate Detachment ** 32nd Submarine Detachment ** 52nd Submarine Detachment ** 6th Landing Ship Detachment ** 3rd Combat Support Ship Detachment ** Danger and Lifesaver Detachment * Southern Theater Command Air Force ** 2nd Independent Regiment ** 2nd Fighter Division ** 8th Bomber Division ** 9th Fighter Division ** 13th Transport Division ** 18th Fighter Division ** 42nd Fighter Division

References

Theater commands of the People's Liberation Army Military units and formations established in 2016 2016 establishments in China Military of Guangdong Military of Guangxi Military of Hainan Military of Guizhou Military of Hunan Military of Hong Kong Military of Yunnan {{China-mil-stub

Area of responsibility

Organizational structure

See also

References