2015 People's Republic Of China Military Reform
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The Deepening National Defense and Military Reform is a major restructuring of the
People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...
(PLA), launched by
Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...
, the
General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party The general secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party ( zh, s=中国共产党中央委员会总书记, p=Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng Zhōngyāng Wěiyuánhuì Zǒngshūjì) is the leader of the Chinese Communist Part ...
since 2012. It flattened the command structure and allowed the CCP to have more control over the military, with the aim of strengthening the combat capability of the PLA.


History

Reform of China's defense and military structure began after
Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...
became the
General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party The general secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party ( zh, s=中国共产党中央委员会总书记, p=Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng Zhōngyāng Wěiyuánhuì Zǒngshūjì) is the leader of the Chinese Communist Part ...
and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission in 2012. Under Xi's administration, China created the CCP National Security Commission and established an
air defense identification zone An air defense identification zone (ADIZ) is a region of airspace in which a country tries to identify, locate, and control aircraft in the interest of national security. It is declared unilaterally and may extend beyond a country's territory to g ...
in the
East China Sea The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. China names the body of water along its eastern coast as "East Sea" (, ) due to direction, the name of "East China Sea" is otherwise ...
in 2013. In 2014, Xi told the
CCP Politburo The Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, officially the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is the executive committee of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Currently, the bureau is ...
that the PLA should operate by integrating multiple services. The "deepening national defense and military reform" was announced in November 2015 at a
plenary session A plenary session or plenum is a session of a conference or deliberative assembly in which all parties or members are present. Such a session may include a broad range of content, from keynotes to panel discussions, and is not necessarily r ...
of the
Central Military Commission Central Military Commission may refer to: *Central Military Commission (China), the highest national defense organization in the People's Republic of China. *Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the highest body in Vietnam ...
(CMC)'s
Central Leading Group for Military Reform The Leading Group for National Defence and Military Reform of the Central Military Commission () is a policy formulation and implementation body set up under the Central Military Commission and ultimately answerable to the Central Committee of ...
. They were expected to be long and extensive that aimed at turning the PLA into a modern military on par with international standards. Before the reforms were announced, Xi said the CMC should directly control the military and new regional commands be created. In January 2014, Chinese senior military officers said that the
People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...
(PLA) was planning to reduce the number of military regions from seven to five Theater Commands to have joint command with the ground, naval, air and rocket forces. This is planned to change their concept of operations from primarily ground-oriented defense to mobile and coordinated movements of all services and to enhance offensive air and naval capabilities. The coastal areas would be turned into three military regions, each with a joint operations command (
Jinan Jinan is the capital of the province of Shandong in East China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is one of the largest cities in Shandong in terms of population. The area of present-day Jinan has played an important role in the history of ...
,
Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...
and
Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...
) for projecting power into the
Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea, also known as the North Sea, is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. Names It is one of four ...
,
East China Sea The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. China names the body of water along its eastern coast as "East Sea" (, ) due to direction, the name of "East China Sea" is otherwise ...
and
South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...
. The four other inland military regions (
Shenyang Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the list of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Liaonin ...
,
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
,
Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...
and
Lanzhou Lanzhou is the capital and largest city of Gansu province in northwestern China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. His ...
) will be streamlined into two military areas mainly for organizing forces for operations. The change was projected to occur through 2019. On 1 January 2016, the CMC issued its "Deepening National Defense and Military Reform" document, which called for major restructuring of the military with the goal of modernizing and enhancing the military's operational capabilities. The four traditional departments of the military ( General Political, General Logistics, General Armament and General Staff Departments) were replaced by 15 new departments, commissions, and offices led by the CMC. Seven departments were created (General Office, Joint Staff Department, Political Work Department, Equipment Development Department, Training and Management Department, Logistics Support Department, and National Defense Mobilization Department). The three Commissions created were the Discipline Inspection Commission, the Politics and Law Commission, and the Science and Technology Commission. The five operational offices created were the Strategic Planning Office, the Reform and Organization Office, the International Military Cooperation Office, the Audit Bureau, and the Organ Affairs General Management Bureau. On 1 February 2016, China replaced its system of seven military regions with newly established Theater Commands: Northern, Southern,
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
, Eastern, and Central. In the prior system, operations were segmented by military branch and region. In contrast, each Theater Command is intended to function as a unified entity with joint operations across different military branches.


See also

* Outline of the military history of the People's Republic of China * History of the People's Liberation Army * Modernization of the People's Liberation Army


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:People's Republic of China military reform, 2015 People's Liberation Army
Military reform A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...
Military reforms in China Military history of the People's Republic of China 2015 in military history 21st-century military history of China