Xi revamps military HQ; directs PLA to obey Party orders

President Xi Jinping today directed China's 2.3 million-member armed forces to strictly follow the orders of the ruling Communist Party and focus on winning wars as he reorganised the military headquarters structure firming up his grip on the world's largest army.
Xi reorganised four army headquarters by replacing them with 15 new agencies under the Central Military Commission (CMC) headed by him.
He asked officers to unswervingly follow the "absolute leadership" of Communist Party of China during a meet with the new heads of the reorganised organs of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Xi, who is also the CPC chief beside being the chairman of the CMC which make him the strongest Chinese leader in recent times, said military leaders must adhere to the Party spirit, obey political discipline, and "be politically intelligent," with firm political faith and right political stance.

Military leaders need to sharpen their political alertness and become better at discerning right and wrong in political matters, Xi said.
He said winning wars should be their central task.

The military organs must concentrate on the study of military affairs, wars and how to fight battles, and strengthen their awareness in preparing for war at any time, Xi said.
In a major reform of its military, Xi has reorganised PLA's four military headquarters, staff, politics, logistics and armaments into 15 new agencies under the CMC.
The new structure includes new commissions -- discipline inspection, politics and law and science and technology as well as the general office, the report said.

The reform also includes formation of five more divisions, administration, auditing, international cooperation, reform, organisational structure and strategic planning.
There are six new departments, joint staff, political work, logistical support, equipment development, training, and national defence.
Xi described the reshuffle as "a breakthrough" and called the new leadership system "a crucial step" towards a stronger military.
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The reforms included renaming of the strategic missile forces as PLA Rocket Force and Strategic Support Force to provide proper electronic and cyber intelligence backup for precision missiles strikes during war and elevated their status as independent force along with army, navy and airforce.

The Chinese military has also for the first time integrated area commands looking after India and Pakistan.
China has seven military area commands in Beijing, Nanjing, Chengdu, Jinan, Shenyang, Lanzhou and Guangzhou.
Of this Chengdu looked after security of India's Eastern sector in the Tibet region including Arunachal Pradesh while Lanzhou looked after the partly the western sector, including Kashmir region and Pakistan.
As per the new strategic zone plan both Chengdu and Lanzhou gets integrated into strategic command region making it perhaps the biggest areas for Chinese military.
The Lanzhou which looks after the border Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Afghanistan has been active in recent years battling the two way crossings of Uyghur Islamic militants from Xinjiang.

The unified joint command system which Xi initiated will end the army dominated set up with more role for airforce and navy which are on a massive modernisation under the USD 145 annual defence budget.
The overhaul is aimed at moving away from an army-centric system towards a Western-style joint command in which the army, navy and air force are equally represented.