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In a major military reform, Chinese President Xi Jinping today reorganised four
army headquarters by replacing them with 15 new agencies under the Central
Military Commission (CMC) headed by him, tightening his control over the world’s
largest force.
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The new structure includes new commissions - discipline inspection, politics
and law and science and technology -- as well as the general office, state-run
Xinhua news agency said.
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The reform includes formation of five more divisions, administration, auditing,
international cooperation, reform, organisational structure and strategic
planning.
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There are six new departments, joint staff, political work, logistical support,
equipment development, training, and national defence. Currently China has four
army headquarters — staff, politics, logistics and armaments. This is part of
major reforms initiated by Xi to revamp the 2.3 million-strong and the world
largest military, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
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64-year-old Xi is widely regarded as the most powerful Chinese leaders in
recent decades after Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping as he consolidated his power
base heading the troika of President, CPC General Secretary and Chief of
Military.
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As part of the reforms, the Chinese military has also for the first time
integrated area commands looking after India and Pakistan. China has seven
military area commands in Jinan, Beijing, Nanjing, Chengdu, Shenyang, Lanzhou
and Guangzhou.
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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. 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. (TOI)