CHINA-INTERNAL: PLA REFORM
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The Hongkong-based South China Morning Post on December 20, 2015, reported that by the end of January 2016, five new "strategic zones" will replace the PLA's seven military commands and that the General Political Department, General Logistics Department, and General Armaments Department will be closed. Only the General Staff department will remain. The five new "strategic zones" include a north, south, east, west and central zones, each with less than 3,000 staff. The West zone will focus on threats in Xinjiang and Tibet, and is closest to Afghanistan and other states that host training bases for separatists and extremists. It will include more than half the country, 22 percent of the population, and more than one-third of the nation's land-based military. The North zone will include all the northeast provinces and Inner Mongolia and will concentrate on Mongolia, the Russia and Korea. The Jinan command, which will lay off more than 60,000 officers, will be included in the Central zone and protect Beijing. The Guangzhou and Nanjing commands will be renamed the South and East zones and made responsible for maritime security in the South and East and China seas, respectively. The paper claimed that the new heads of three major branches of the PLA had also been decided and said Admiral Sun Jianguo, 63, and Lieutenant General Yi Xiaoguang, 57, would take over as the new Commanders of the PLA Navy and Air Force, replacing Wu Shengli and Ma Xiaotian. Sun Jianguo was a nuclear submarine captain and Yi Xiaoguang was a fighter pilot. Both, Wu Shengli and and Ma Xiaotian are retiring. Li Zuocheng, 62, Commander of the Chengdu (成都) Military Region, is tipped to become the first chief of a newly-formed land force command. He is one of the few PLA officers at that level with battle experience having experienced combat in the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979.
(Comment: The West Zone which, according to this report, appears to merge the existing Lanzhou and Chengdu Military Regions will also have operational responsibility for the borders with India and Pakistan.)
Commenting on the recent article in the PLA Daily regarding China's ongoing military reforms, the Hongkong-based South China Morning Post quoted Xu Guangyu, at the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association in Beijing, as saying that officers would accept the overhaul since they could get civilian jobs or retire with a generous pension. He said the lower ranks would find it harder.
(Comment: The PLA Daily has published more than 20 articles on military reform since the initiative was announced last month and eight have called on top officers to lead the way.)
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