China regroups seven military commands into four strategic zones

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 26

In a major restructuring of its military initiated by China, seven military area commands (MAC) have been regrouped into four strategic zones. Of the four, the West Zone shall now face India.  It will be headquartered at Chengdu in Sichuan province.

Till now, the Lanzhou MAC and the Chengdu MAC face India.  Lanzhou MAC is meant for Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal and Uttarakhand, while Chengdu is for Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

The commands have two group armies comprising 75,000 to 1 lakh troops each, tanks, mobile missile launchers, artillery and helicopters. In total more than 3.50 lakh troops are dedicated for India, including fighter squadrons and divisions dedicated for rapid deployment.

The restructuring was formally announced at a plenary session of the leading group for national defence and military reform under the Central Military Commission at Beijing, Hong Kong-based newspaper ‘South China Morning Post’ has reported.

The session was attended by President Xi Jinping and top leaders from the PLA’s four headquarters, seven key military commands, navy, air force, missile corps and armed police, the newspaper said.

The overhaul is aimed at phasing out the Chinese Soviet-style command structures in favour of a more US-style model — an integrated command. On September 3, President Xi had announced to prune 3 lakh troops.

In India the assessment is that it will not give an edge to India. Beijing’s focus will be to prune ‘non-essential’ force, including office staff, while ramping up its air force, navy and strategic missiles.

This is not the first troop cut by China. Beijing has done this periodically as it grows in terms of technology, officials say. The cuts are part of military reforms scheduled to be completed by 2017-end. It will be China’s 11^th military reduction since 1949 and the fourth since the 1980s.

In 1985, China cut the armed forces by more than 10 lakh, the largest cut ever. Troop numbers were reduced by 5 lakh in 1997 and by 2 lakh in 2003.

The cut announced by Xi indicate that the PLA is paying more attention to its operational capability. It is most likely to focus on helicopter and mechanised operations in the Tibetan plateau and Xinjiang—both bordering India. China’s military budget—$142 billion—could be invested in upgrading weapons and increasing attack prowess of combat units. India has a budget of $38.5 billion and that too at dollar exchange rates of last year.