Beijing Military Region | |||||||
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Simplified Chinese | 北京军区 | ||||||
Traditional Chinese | 北京軍區 | ||||||
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The Beijing Military Region was one of seven military regions for the Chinese People's Liberation Army. From the mid-1980s to 2017, it had administration of all military affairs within Beijing city, Tianjin city, Hebei province, Shanxi province, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The Region is mainly responsible for defending the People's Republic of China from Mongolia and Russia, and also protects the capital of China, and had the largest number of military personnel of any of the seven regions active from 1985 to 2017. The Region has now been disbanded and superseded by the Central Theater Command and Northern Theater Command.
Both the 63rd and 65th Corps/Group Armies were stationed in the Beijing area after returning from the Korean War and remained in the region ever since, becoming Group Armies after 1985.[1] The 13th Air Force Corps was stationed at Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province from 1971 to 1976.
On 26 October 1988 the 17th Air Division was reorganized into the Beijing MR Training Base (serials 6xx2x).[2]
In reductions announced in September 2003, the 24th Group Army (Hebei), and the 63rd Group Army (Shanxi) were both disbanded. About the same time, the 10th Air Corps, also stationed in the region, was disestablished (PLAAF 2010).
The International Institute for Strategic Studies attributed to the command 300,000 personnel in 2006, consisting of three group armies (the 27th Group Army, 38th Group Army, and the 65th Group Army), two armoured divisions, one mechanised infantry division, five motorised divisions, one artillery division, three armoured, seven motorised infantry, four artillery, a total of five various anti-aircraft brigades, and one anti-tank regiment.[3] The command is also augmented by the PLA Beijing Garrison, which consists of the 1st and 3rd guard divisions (Military Police), and the Beijing Garrison Honor Guard Battalion and Color Guard Company, both of which are charged with public duties. The command is also home to the PLA Navy (PLAN) North Sea Fleet.
The last commander was General Song Puxuan (2014-2016). The political commissar was General Liu Fulian.