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China General Staff Department
The General Staff Department carried out staff and operational
functions for the PLA and had major responsibility for implementing
military modernization plans. Headed by the chief of general staff,
the department served as the headquarters for the ground forces and
contained directorates for the three other armed services: Air
Force, Navy, and Strategic Missile Force. 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.
Data as of July 1987
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