BEIJING: China’s increasingly sophisticated military will establish a joint operational command structure for its forces to improve coordination between different parts of the country’s defence system, the official China Daily reported yesterday.
China has been moving rapidly to upgrade its military hardware, but military analysts say operational integration of complex and disparate systems across a regionalised command structure is a major challenge for Beijing.
In the past, regional level military commanders have enjoyed major latitude over their forces and branches of the military have remained highly independent of each other, making it difficult to exercise the centralised control necessary to use new weapons systems effectively in concert.
The English-language newspaper, citing the Defence Ministry, said that China will implement a joint command system “in due course” and that it has already launched pilot programmes to that effect.
In November, the ruling Communist Party announced the establishment of a new national security commission, to enable the country to speak with a single voice on crises at home and abroad, as part of a slew of mostly economic reforms announced at the end of a key party meeting.
China currently has seven military regions traditionally focused around ground-based army units, but China’s changing security interests, including over claims to potentially rich energy reserves in the East and South China Seas, has highlighted its need to focus more on air and naval forces.
The China Daily said that the navy could be the top priority for the new command system.
“China has built an iron bastion in its border regions. The major concern lies at sea,” said Li Qinggong, deputy secretary-general of the China Council for National Security Policy Studies, as quoted in the report.
Beijing unveiled a 10.7 percent rise in defence spending last year to 740.6bn yuan ($120bn), part of a pattern of double-digit increase which have worried the region.
China has advertised its long-term military ambitions with shows of new hardware, including a first test flight of a stealth fighter jet in early 2011 and the launch of its first aircraft carrier - both trials of technologies needing years more of development.
Reuters
