ExplainerChina’s military structure: what are the theatre commands and service branches?

Name: Explained: the history of China’s territorial disputes
Uploaded: 2021-08-15T06:00:21.000Z
Duration: 6 min 24 s
Description: Explained: the history of China’s territorial disputes

The People’s Liberation Army has been reshaped since major reforms began in 2015 to modernise the world’s largest military

With growing tensions over Taiwan, the South China Sea, and the border with India, the PLA has become globally significant

4-MIN READ4-MIN

China’s People’s Liberation Army is the world’s largest military force. Photo: Xinhua

Ziyu Zhang

Published: 2:00pm, 15 Aug 2021Updated: 2:11pm, 15 Aug 2021

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has gone through many evolutions since it helped put the Communist Party in power in 1949.

In the latest structural overhaul meant to help it become a modern fighting force, the PLA’s seven military regions were streamlined into five theatres of command reporting to the Central Military Commission (CMC).

Today, the PLA’s actions are of global significance as tensions grow over Taiwan, the South China Sea, and China’s border with India. Here’s how the world’s biggest military is structured.

Highest decision-making body: the CMC

The CMC is in charge of overall administration of the military.

Technically the CMC has parallel functions as both a state institution and a Communist Party organ, but the party holds ultimate power over it, as its chairman is usually also the leader of the party.

In 2016, the CMC’s four general departments – staff, politics, logistics and armaments – were reorganised into 15 agencies, including the general office, joint staff, political work, logistical support, equipment development, training and administration, plus national defence mobilisation.

06:24

Explained: the history of China’s territorial disputes

While the new entities are more specific in their functions than their predecessors, they have no final decision-making authority. That power lies with the seven-member group which leads the CMC: President Xi Jinping, two vice-chairmen and four other members. PLA Air Force General Xu Qiliang and General Zhang Youxia – both Xi loyalists – are the commission’s vice-chairmen.