By Shannon Tiezzi
China scrapped its seven military regions in favor of five theater commands.
China inaugurated five new theater commands of the People’s Liberation Army on Monday, with Chinese President Xi Jinping presenting flags to the new commanders during a ceremony in Beijing. The new theater commands – which replace the seven previously existing military regions – bring another piece of Xi’s ambitious plan for PLA reform into reality.
Most of the commanders of the new military regions previously commanded one of China’s seven military regions, based at Shenyang, Beijing, Jinan, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Lanzhou. However, many were given command of theaters far from their original base of power, ensuring no one commander can maintain a network of personal loyalty that supersedes Party authority. Liu Yuejun, formerly the commander of the Lanzhou Military Region (MR) in northwest China will now command the Eastern Theater. The former commander of the northern Shenyang MR, Wang Jiaocheng, will take over the Southern Theater Command, while Zhao Zongqi of the eastern Jinan MR move to commander of the Western Theater Command.
The Beijing MR saw the least displacement for its commanders – and, in fact, a double promotion. Former Beijing MR commander Song Puxuan will head up the Northern Theater Command, while his former deputy commander, Han Weiguo, received a promotion to commander of the Central Theater.
On the other end of the scale, three previous MR commanders were left high and dry: Nanjing MR commander Cai Yingting, Guangzhou MR commander Xu Fenglin, and Chengdu MR commander Li Zhocheng.
Read the full story at The Diplomat