A major command structure reform is coming to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) by the end of 2015, unnamed sources told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post. The reform, known to be in the works for the past several months, is intended to orient the PLA towards becoming a more professional force in the mold of Western militaries, while at the same time maintaining and consolidating the Communist Party’s central political control over it.
These institutional changes, made as Chinese leader Xi Jinping strengthens his personal authority, represent the latest round of the often-turbulent Party-Army dynamic.
The restructuring involves personnel changes, cuts to the force size, and highlights the important roles of the PLA’s air and naval forces, which have historically taken a back seat to the ground forces.
Two sources told the South China Morning Post that the seven “obsolete” military regions would be replaced by five regional commands—North, South, East, West, and a central combat zone, which one of the sources said would likely be located in Beijing.
“The head office of the central combat zone is likely to be in Beijing, because the capital is also China’s administrative and military nerve centre,” the source said.
