A theater command is a multi-service formation of China's People's Liberation Army subordinated to the Central Military Commission. Theater commands are broadly responsible for strategy, plans, tactics, and policy specific to their assigned area of responsibility. In wartime, they will likely have full control of subordinate units; in peacetime, units also report to their service headquarters.[2] The services retain administrative and "constructive" control.[3] There are 5 theater commands: Eastern, Southern, Western, Northern, and Central theater commands, organized by a geographical basis.[4]
Overview
In 2016, the seven military regions of the China were reorganized into the present five theater commands and the term "military region" became obsolete. Chinese theater commands (TC) have been likened to the geographic combatant commands of the United States military; however, China's theater commands do not (reportedly) extend beyond the nation's borders.[2] When listed by the government of the People's Republic of China, the theater commands are, by protocol, presented in order of precedence, as show below.[4][5]
Each theater command is led by both a military commander who is responsible for operations and an equally-ranked political commissar who is responsible for ideological functions of the command in keeping with the values of the CCP. The staff of a theater command's headquarters participates in committee-based decision-making instead of a hierarchical command structure used by most other militaries. Under each theater command are the single-service headquarters for the Ground Force (PLAGF), Air Force (PLAAF), and Navy (PLAN) which adhere to a dual command structure wherein each subordinate service headquarters under a theater command reports to both the theater command it is assigned to and the service's national headquarters. In wartime it is believed these services will fall under the complete operational control of their theater command.[2] Neither the Central nor the Western Theater Command have an assigned PLAN service headquarters due to their smaller coastal profiles.
In December 1954, the existing six major military regions were reorganized into twelve regions: Shenyang (which traces history from the Northeastern Military Region), Beijing, Jinan, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Kunming, Wuhan, Chengdu, Lanzhou, Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia.[8] The former Northwest Military Region, which became the Beijing Military Region, doubled as Beijing-Tianjin Garrison Command. Due to the tension in the Taiwan Straits, the State Council ordered the establishment of the Fuzhou Military Region on 22 April 1956. It included the provincial military districts of Fujian and Jiangsu, formerly under the Nanjing MR. The Fuzhou MR was officially established on 1 July 1956, with Ye Fei as its commander and political commissar.[9]
The thirteen military regions established by 1956 were reduced to eleven in the late 1960s.[10] In 1967, the Inner Mongolia and Tibet Military Regions were downgraded and incorporated into the Beijing and Chengdu Military Regions.[11]
The military regions are divided into military districts, usually contiguous with provinces, and military sub-districts.[12]
In January 2014, Chinese senior military officers revealed that the PLA is planning to reduce the number of military regions from seven to five "military areas" to have joint command with ground, naval, air, and Second Artillery Corps forces. This change was planned to transition their concept of operations from primarily ground-oriented defense to mobile and coordinated movement of all services and to enhance offensive air and naval capabilities into the East China Sea. The coastal Jinan, Nanjing, and Guangzhou regions became three military areas, each with a joint operations command, for projecting power into the Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea. The four other inland military regions were streamlined into two military areas mainly for organizing forces for operations.[13]
^Gucheng Li, A Glossary of Political Terms of the People's Republic of China, Chinese University Press, 1995, ISBN9622016154, 534, citing Record of New China's Military Activities 1949-1959, 379.
^Guacheng Li, 1995, ibid., 534, citing Record of New China, 411
^Chapter 8, PLA Ground Forces, by Dennis J Blasko, in The People's Liberation Army as Organisation, RAND, CF182, 313
^Dennis J. Blasko, "PLA Ground Forces: Moving towards a Smaller, More Rapidly Deployable, Modern Combined Arms Force," The PLA as Organization, ed. James C. Mulvenon and Andrew N.D. Yang (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2002), 313.
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