Western Theater Command

The Western Theater Command is one of the five theater commands of the People's Liberation Army of China since 2016.

Western Theater Command
Western Theater Command
Simplified Chinese西部战区
Traditional Chinese西部戰區

Its jurisdiction includes Sichuan, Tibet, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Shaanxi, Yunnan, Chongqing.[1] Guizhou is also sometimes listed as part of the command.[1] Its current commander since December 2020 is General Zhang Xudong.[2] Its political commissar is General Wu Shezhou.

In May 2016, the PRC raised the rank and status of its western Tibet Military Command to widen its scope for missions and combat preparedness, in a move analysts in Beijing said was aimed in part at fortifying the border with India.[3] The Xinjiang Military Command may also be elevated in the future, the report said. Both commands are under the newly created Western Theater Command, the largest of five newly reorganised military regions of the PLA. The Party-run Global Times reported the change would allow the command “to shoulder more combat assignments”.

The Western Theater Command's air forces included the 6th, 33rd, 37th, and 44th Fighter Divisions, 4th Transport Division and the 36th Bomber Division. In 2012 the 109th Aviation Regiment was reorganised as a brigade reporting to the PLAAF's Urumqi Base.[4] It now flies the Shenyang J-11 fighter.

See also

References
  1. Sumit Ganguly; Andrew Scobell; Joseph Chinyong Liow, eds. (2017). The Routledge Handbook of Asian Security Studies. Routledge. ISBN 978-1315455631.
  2. "Chinese President Xi appoints new General for PLA's Western Theatre Command amidst Ladakh standoff". economictimes. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  3. "Eye on India, China raises Tibet military command rank | Central Tibetan Administration". tibet.net. Retrieved October 1, 2016.

Further reading
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.