General Staff Department
The General Staff Department carries out staff and operational functions for the PLA and has major responsibility for implementing military modernization plans. Headed by the chief of general staff, the department is the key operational department for the day to day functions of the PLA. It serves as the headquarters for the ground forces under the seven subordinate military regions (MR) and contains directorates for the three other armed services: the PLA Air Force, PLA Navy and the Strategic Rocket Force (also called the 2nd Artillery). The GSD First Department manages combat operations, while other departments run foreign and domestic intelligence operations, military communications operations, military training, military equipment and mobilization.
The most important of the three elements within the PLA is the General Staff Department's Equipment Department (GSD/ED) which draws up operational parameters for PLA equipment acquisitions and coordinates demands from the three services.
The General Staff Department included functionally organized subdepartments for artillery, armored units, engineering, operations, training, intelligence, mobilization, surveying, communications, quartermaster services, and politics. Navy Headquarters controlled the North Sea Fleet, East Sea Fleet, and South Sea Fleet. Air Force Headquarters generally exercised control through the commanders of the seven military regions. Nuclear forces were directly subordinate to the General Staff Department. Conventional main, regional, and militia units were controlled administratively by the military region commanders, but the General Staff Department in Beijing could assume direct operational control of any main-force unit at will. Thus, broadly speaking, the General Staff Department exercised operational control of the main forces, and the military region commanders controlled the regional forces and, indirectly, the militia.
- The Beijing Military Region is the most important of the seven military regions. Because of its location in the capital, it maintains six group armies (GA) under its direct control, more than any military region.
- The Shenyang Military Region is the second most important of the military regions. Headquartered in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, it commands an area close to Beijing, as well as regions bordering on the Russian Far East and North Korea.
- The Jinan Military Region is based in Jinan, Shandong Province. While it commands a large Navy operation, the heavily industrialized Jinan Military Region has the smallest physical area of all the military regions.
- The Nanjing Military Region, headquarted in Nanjing, Jiangsu, faces Taiwan and is home to a substantial fraction of number of China's medium-range missiles.
- The Guangzhou Military Region is also a front-line region in the event of a conflict with Taiwan. The Naval stations located in region are engaged in the South China Seas.
- The Chengdu Military Region is an inland military force deployed along the borders with Vietnam, Burma and the Himalyan nations.
- The Lanzhou Military Region controls the largest physical area of the military regions. It borders on the plains of central Asia and the newly independent states of the Soviet Union. It controls the region holding the nuclear research and missile testing facilities in the Chinese west.
Since 1982 the military legislation system has been further fine-tuned as part of the state legislation system: The NPC and its Standing Committee have formulated laws on defense and army building; the CMC has formulated military laws and regulations, or jointly worked out military administrative laws and regulations with the State Council; all general departments, all services and arms and all military area commands of the PLA have drawn up military rules and regulations or jointly worked out military administrative rules and regulations with the relevant departments of the State Council. The Interim Regulations on Legislative Procedures of the PLA promulgated by the CMC contains clear-cut provisions on legislation programming and planning and the drafting, examination, promulgation and enforcement of laws and regulations, which embody the standardization and systemization of military legislation.
During the 1990s a number of achievements have been made in military legislation. The NPC and its Standing Committee have formulated 12 defense and army-building laws and legality-related decisions, including the National Defense Law of the PRC, Military Service Law of the PRC, Military Facilities Protection Law of the PRC, Civil Air Defense Law of the PRC, Law on the Reserve Officers of the PRC, the Garrison Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the PRC, Military Service Regulations Pertaining to PLA Officers in Active Service, and Regulations on the Military Ranks of PLA Officers. The State Council and the CMC have worked out 40-odd military administrative laws and regulations, such as the Regulations on National Defense Transportation, Regulations on Conscription Work, Regulations on Militia Work, and Military Service Regulations Pertaining to PLA Soldiers in Active Service. The CMC has formulated 70-odd military laws and regulations, including the Regulations of the PLA Headquarters, Regulations on Political Work in the PLA, Logistics Regulations of the PLA, Routine Service Regulations of the PLA, Discipline Regulations of the PLA, and Drill Regulations of the PLA. The various general departments, services and arms and military area commands have drawn up 1,000-some items of military rules and regulations. Now, China has laws to go by basically in the principal aspects of its defense and army building, as a military legal system with Chinese characteristics now is initially in place. While adhering to the principle of suiting military legislation to its national and military conditions, China also lays stress on bringing it into line with the international military-related treaties and agreements that China has acceded to, so as to make China's military laws consistent in content with international legal norms and practices.
In the sphere of national defense construction, China has set up and improved its defense leading system and operating mechanism at both the central and local levels in accordance with the law, together with basic national defense systems and institutions, such as those of military service, mobilization, research and production, assets management and military facilities protection, as well as those of giving special care to the bereaved families of servicemen. In the area of army building, the principles defining the nature, tasks and building of the armed forces have been determined in accordance with the law, and a series of important systems and institutions are in operation, such as those of military ranks and insignia, military training, headquarters work, political work, logistic support, garrison service, and military discipline-related rewards and penalties, which ensure that national defense activities and army building can be carried out in an orderly manner, within a legal framework and along a regulatory line.
During the 16th CPC National Congress, held 8-15 November 2002, for the first time the CPC replaced its entire general staff in a single reshuffle reducing its membership from eleven to nine positions. None of the men who earned their political clout on the battlefields of World War II and the civil war against Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists were seated on the new Central Committee.
