| Beijing Military Region | |||||||
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 Beijing Military Region (highlighted) | |||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 北京军区 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 北京軍區 | ||||||
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TheBeijing Military Region was one ofseven military regions for the ChinesePeople's Liberation Army. From the mid-1980s to 2017, it had administration of all military affairs withinBeijing city,Tianjin city,Hebei province,Shanxi province, andInner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The Region is mainly responsible for defending thePeople's Republic of China from Mongolia and Russia, and also protects the capital of China, and had the largest number of military personnel of any of the seven regions active from 1985 to 2017. The Region has now been disbanded and superseded by theCentral Theater Command andNorthern Theater Command.
Both the 63rd and 65th Corps/Group Armies were stationed in the Beijing area after returning from theKorean War and remained in the region ever since, becoming Group Armies after 1985.[1] The13th Air Force Corps was stationed atShijiazhuang in Hebei Province from 1971 to 1976.
On 26 October 1988 the 17th Air Division was reorganized into the Beijing MR Training Base (serials 6xx2x).[2]
In reductions announced in September 2003, the24th Group Army (Hebei), and the63rd Group Army (Shanxi) were both disbanded. About the same time, the 10th Air Corps, also stationed in the region, was disestablished (PLAAF 2010).
TheInternational Institute for Strategic Studies attributed to the command 300,000 personnel in 2006, consisting of three group armies (the27th Group Army,38th Group Army, and the65th Group Army), two armoured divisions, one mechanised infantry division, five motorised divisions, one artillery division, three armoured, seven motorised infantry, four artillery, a total of five various anti-aircraft brigades, and one anti-tank regiment.[3] The command is also augmented by thePLA Beijing Garrison, which consists of the 1st and3rd guard divisions (Military Police), and theBeijing Garrison Honor Guard Battalion and Color Guard Company, both of which are charged withpublic duties. The command is also home to the PLA Navy (PLAN)North Sea Fleet.
The last commander was GeneralSong Puxuan (2014-2016). Thepolitical commissar was GeneralLiu Fulian.
The Beijing Military Region traces its lineage to the establishment of the Northwest Military Region in May 1948. It was renamed the Beijing Military Region in 1955,[4] when the Inner Mongolia Military Region was downgraded to a district, and was folded into the Beijing Military Region.
The Beijing Military Region is primarily charged with protecting the capital. Because of its location in the capital, the Beijing Military Region was the most important of the seven military regions. Each unit from the Beijing Military Regioncontributed forces to Beijing for the crackdown on theTiananmen Square protests of 1989, and these elements remained deployed in Beijing long after using deadly force to remove the demonstrators.[5]
In addition to guarding the capital, the Beijing Military Region is also in charge of training key personnel for leadership positions through the numerous military academies in the region.
The organizational structure as of 2016 was as follows:[7]
Organizations affiliated with the Beijing Military Region often used the nickname "comrade" (Chinese:战友;pinyin:zhànyǒu;lit. 'battle friend'), including the Comrade Performance Troupe (Chinese:战友文工团) and theComrade Newspaper (Chinese:战友报).
