Chinese military update

[xinhui]

According to this day's MND news press, it is a done deal: All non-com"troops" now strip of ranks to become civilian contractors.



No more singing generals and dancing majors in Chinese military: Xi Jinping
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 27 August, 2013, 3:55pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 27 August, 2013, 4:22pm



Members of the People's Liberation Army Song and Dance Troupe rehearse at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in 1999. Photo: Reuters

Han Hong seen in Beijing earlier this month in a black Ferrari without number plates.

President Xi Jinping gave the People’s Liberation Army’s musicians a rare public scolding on Monday for “fooling the masses” after a series of reports exposed their privileged lifestyle and commercial exploitation of their military status.

The PLA Daily, the armed forces’ mouthpiece, on its front-page, announced new measures by the PLA’s General Political Department to curtail the privileges of the military’s art troupes. The new measures were approved by Xi.

Xi’s wife Peng Liyuan, a renowned soprano opera singer, famously served as the youngest ever civilian major general of the PLA’s General Political Department’s dance troupe before her husband’s rise to the presidency.

The decision comes after a series of scandals exposed the privileged lifestyle of some of the military’s art troupes’ most prominent members.

Famous Tibetan-Chinese singer Han Hong, deputy head of the dance troupe of the PLA Air Force, had to apologise after getting caught three times for violating traffic regulations in Beijing while driving a black Ferrari and a Land Rover.

The new rules bar military musicians from promoting themselves, from performing abroad without prior approval and from performing at private concerts and in bars. They are also barred from participating in casting shows. Han Hong incidentally currently serves as a judge on the musical talent-casting show China’s Idol.

These civilian military cadres, who perform wearing PLA uniforms, will no longer be allowed to hold the PLA’s highest military ranks. “Level three or above civilian cadres can not be called generals or civilian generals,” the new regulations say. They are expected to “consciously clean up their professional circles, life circles and circles of friends”.

Major General Li Shuangjiang, head of the PLA’s Academy of Arts music department , and his wife Liu Qingdi, alias Meng Ge, a member of the General Political Department’s dance troupe, have been under constant media scrutiny since February, when their son Li Tianyi was detained on charges of gang rape. He is expected to stand trial later this week.

Han Hong seen performing in a PLAF uniform in Xinjiang in this file photo.

Members of the art troupes are expected to perform at least 60 concerts per year, according to the new measures. The musicians are also expected to “join grassroots units for life experience for at least one month every year,” according to the new measures.



In April, Xi had already ordered officers with the rank of lieutenant colonel or above to serve as privates - the lowest-ranking soldier - for not less than 15 days. Generals and officers will have to live, eat and serve with junior soldiers during this period. In May, Xi had all military car number plates invalidated and replaced in May. In June, he also ordered a review of real estate owned by the armed forces.

[xinhui]

here is what a PLA drives to attend a Proletariat, Class struggle, concert

[Stitch]

Nice! Life must be rough in the heart of Communist China . . . .

[gf0012-aust]

that LSM clearly puts army maritime assets into the grey and blue water roles - how long is that likely to last with respect to PLAN. I assume that like most other countries, an expeditionary force is controlled by the maritime commander and all other service assets defer to their command?

[ace16807]

that LSM clearly puts army maritime assets into the grey and blue water roles - how long is that likely to last with respect to PLAN. I assume that like most other countries, an expeditionary force is controlled by the maritime commander and all other service assets defer to their command?

If the PLA Ground Forces are playing a major role in said expeditionary force, unlikely. The PLA as a whole is the Army first and foremost. That's why PLAN fleet CDRs technically act as MR deputy CDRs as well, not as "co-commanders" if you will. But then again we haven't seen an expeditionary force that involved substantial numbers of PLA Ground Forces. Ultimately, whoever has the highest grade is who is in charge. The probability just says that said officer is an Army guy.

[xinhui]

that LSM clearly puts army maritime assets into the grey and blue water roles - how long is that likely to last with respect to PLAN. I assume that like most other countries, an expeditionary force is controlled by the maritime commander and all other service assets defer to their command?

in the last few years, there seem to be an "understanding" between the PLA coastal ground force and the PLAN on their areas of responsibilities for their amph assets: The PLA would be responsible for their one-way venture east of Fujian, the PLAN would focus on South China Sea. This is one way the PLAN was able to justify their budget for three new LPDs by dropping off all their old LSMs and LSIs to the army. I guess the army is tired of hand-me-downs now and wants some shinny new boats to boot.

[xinhui]

ace16807

Your information is dated, the PLA Chain of Command has gone through much change in the last few years.

The probability just says that said officer is an Army guy.

It is 100% a CMC guy.

[ace16807]

ace16807

Your information is dated, the PLA Chain of Command has gone through much change in the last few years.



It is 100% a CMC guy.

It depends on the size of the expeditionary force, wouldn't it? They're not going to put a CMC guy in command of a small expeditionary force. Plus, I should point out that the majority of the CMC and 4 General Depts are Army. I don't know about PLAAF guys in GSD but there are only two on CMC and I can't imagine there being more than one PLAAF under GSD HQ Dept. PLAN only has Wu and Sun.

I'm not saying that the PLAGF will command it but rather that the probability that it's an Army guy is high. Plus, even though CMC is hypothetically "joint", the fact that nearly all of them are Army and the 4 General Depts that are on the CMC are ultimately the Army's 4 General Depts, not joint general departments means you're getting a heavily Army-based bias.

[xinhui]

You missed my point, the CMC "guy" I was referring to works under the General Staff Department, he is trained to lead a War Zone Campaign. Anyways, while we are on this topic, do you know who this "army" guy is?

[xinhui]

Lets take a look at CMC's team roster:

The two vice chairs are:

Vice Chairmen:

General Fan Changlong, former commander of the Jinan Military Region (Hmmmm Jinnan MR)
Air Force General Xu Qiliang, former commander of the PLA Air Force

8 Members: (one boat, one bird and one nuke) Three of the army boys are Guangzhou, Nanjing and Jiana MR, all have their own army amph assets facing TW. The other two are Shanyang and Beijing.


General Chang Wanquan, Minister of National Defense, former Director of the General Armament Department
General Fang Fenghui, Director of the General Staff Department
General Zhang Yang, Director of the General Political Department
General Zhao Keshi, Director of the General Logistics Department
General Zhang Youxia, Director of the General Armament Department
Admiral Wu Shengli, Commander of the PLA Navy
Air Force General Ma Xiaotian, Commander of the PLA Air Force, former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the PLA
General Wei Fenghe, Commander of the Second Artillery Corps

[ace16807]

Ah I see. Is it going to be an actual CMC member or someone in GSD?

If it were to be CMC, my unsubstantiated guesses for something related to TW would be Fan Changlong, Fang Fenghui or Zhao Keshi. Zhang Yang would probably serve as the PC (although I don't know how a Campaign org structure would look).

I think it'd be plausible to have a GSD deputy also run it? These are the options thus far:
Zhang Qinsheng
Sun Jianguo
Hou Shusen
Wang Guanzhong
Qi Jianguo

Zhang and Qi seem like the only plausible ones out of that list. Especially looking into the long term, Sun will be replacing Wu when Wu retires. I don't have that substantial of a background on Campaign Theory for the PLA or bigger picture strategic stuff though so I'm only hazarding a guess on actual candidates.

[cdude]

You missed my point, the CMC "guy" I was referring to works under the General Staff Department, he is trained to lead a War Zone Campaign. Anyways, while we are on this topic, do you know who this "army" guy is?

Liu Huaqing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

More of General Liu's US tour below. I believe it's before 1985. The uniform was the Mao era style which was not changed until 1985.

http://bbs.tiexue.net/post_6891986_1.html

[xinhui]

cdude, Admiral Liu, Admiral, not General. :-)



http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/oni/pla-navy.pdf

From Office of Naval Intelligence's China Navy 2009
Admiral Liu Huaqing was the third commander of the PLA(N)(1982-1988) and one of the foremost maritime strategists produced by the People's Republic of China. Born in 1916, Liu joined the PLA in 1930 and was a veteran of its Long March. His transition from the army to the navy began in 1952, after which he served in a variety of operational and technical assignments including Deputy Commander of the North Sea Fleet, Vice Minister of the 6th Ministry of Machine Building (Ship Building), and Deputy Chief of the General Staff, before assuming the position ofPLA(N) Commander in August 1982.

In a military dominated by the "great infantry" concept, Liu was much more than just an army officer serving in naval assignments. Instead, Liu proved himself to be a forward thinking maritime strategist who developed the PLA(N),s current strategy of"offshore defense," began the now robust program of naval diplomacy and foreign engagement, and laid the intellectual and technical foundations for the rapidly modernizing PLA(N) of today. In the final phase of his military career, Liu served on the Central Military Commission, where he would eventually become the senior vice chairman and one of the most powerful men in the Chinese military behind then-CMC Chairman Deng Xiaoping

[cdude]

You missed my point, the CMC "guy" I was referring to works under the General Staff Department, he is trained to lead a War Zone Campaign. Anyways, while we are on this topic, do you know who this "army" guy is?

cdude, Admiral Liu, Admiral, not General. :-)



http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/oni/pla-navy.pdf

From Office of Naval Intelligence's China Navy 2009
Admiral Liu Huaqing was the third commander of the PLA(N)(1982-1988) and one of the foremost maritime strategists produced by the People's Republic of China. Born in 1916, Liu joined the PLA in 1930 and was a veteran of its Long March. His transition from the army to the navy began in 1952, after which he served in a variety of operational and technical assignments including Deputy Commander of the North Sea Fleet, Vice Minister of the 6th Ministry of Machine Building (Ship Building), and Deputy Chief of the General Staff, before assuming the position ofPLA(N) Commander in August 1982.

In a military dominated by the "great infantry" concept, Liu was much more than just an army officer serving in naval assignments. Instead, Liu proved himself to be a forward thinking maritime strategist who developed the PLA(N),s current strategy of"offshore defense," began the now robust program of naval diplomacy and foreign engagement, and laid the intellectual and technical foundations for the rapidly modernizing PLA(N) of today. In the final phase of his military career, Liu served on the Central Military Commission, where he would eventually become the senior vice chairman and one of the most powerful men in the Chinese military behind then-CMC Chairman Deng Xiaoping

You are right. Admiral.

I think he was also deeply involved with Lai Changxing when PLAN was the biggest smuggler on the sea. Good old times, lol.

[tankie]

You missed my point, the CMC "guy" I was referring to works under the General Staff Department, he is trained to lead a War Zone Campaign. Anyways, while we are on this topic, do you know who this "army" guy is?

Enter , winton , ta raaaaaaaaaaa .