| Deepening National Defense and Military Reform | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 深化國防和軍隊改革 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 深化国防和军队改革 | ||||||
| Literal meaning | Deepening national defense and military reform | ||||||
| |||||||
TheDeepening National Defense and Military Reform is a major restructuring of thePeople's Liberation Army (PLA), launched byXi Jinping, theGeneral Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party 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.[1]
Reform of China's defense and military structure began afterXi Jinping became theGeneral Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and theChairman of the Central Military Commission in 2012. UnderXi's administration, China created theCCP National Security Commission and established anair defense identification zone in theEast China Sea in 2013.[2] In 2014, Xi told theCCP Politburo that the PLA should operate by integrating multiple services.[2]
The "deepening national defense and military reform" was announced in November 2015 at aplenary session of theCentral Military Commission (CMC)'sCentral Leading Group for Military Reform.[3] They were expected to be long and extensive that aimed at turning the PLA into a modern military on par with international standards.[3] Before the reforms were announced, Xi said the CMC should directly control the military and new regional commands be created.[2]
In January 2014, Chinese senior military officers[who?] said that thePeople's Liberation Army (PLA) was planning to reduce the number ofmilitary regions from seven to fiveTheater 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 tomobile andcoordinated 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,Nanjing andGuangzhou) for projecting power into theYellow Sea,East China Sea andSouth China Sea. The four other inland military regions (Shenyang,Beijing,Chengdu andLanzhou) will be streamlined into two military areas mainly for organizing forces for operations. The change was projected to occur through 2019.[4][needs update]
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.[5]: 288
The four traditional departments of the military (General Political,General Logistics,General Armament andGeneral Staff Departments) were replaced by 15 new departments, commissions, and offices led by the CMC.[5]: 288 Seven departments were created (General Office,Joint Staff Department,Political Work Department,Equipment Development Department, Training and Management Department,Logistics Support Department, andNational Defense Mobilization Department).[5]: 289 The three Commissions created were the Discipline Inspection Commission, the Politics and Law Commission, and theScience and Technology Commission.[5]: 289 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.[5]: 289
On 1 February 2016, China replaced its system of seven military regions with newly established Theater Commands:Northern,Southern,Western,Eastern, andCentral.[5]: 289 In the prior system, operations were segmented by military branch and region.[5]: 289 In contrast, each Theater Command is intended to function as a unified entity with joint operations across different military branches.[5]: 289
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