The tasks assigned to the Strategic Support Force have yet to be unveiled, but Yin Zhuo, director of the PLA Navy's Expert Consultation Committee, said the responsibilities of the new branch will include target reconnaissance and tracking, global positioning operations, space-asset management and defending against hostile activities in the cyberspace and electromagnetic fields.
Zhang said the Strategic Support Force would add new "fighting power" to the PLA and would become a new pillar of national security.
In January last year, the four top PLA departments-staff, politics, logistics and armaments - were disbanded and their functions and duties were handed over to 15 new agencies under the control of the CMC. The reshuffle was designed to boost the efficiency and professionalism of the military's leading bodies, according to Zhao Xiaozhuo, a senior researcher at the PLA Academy of Military Science.
Soon after the changes to the leading authorities, the regional systems were also reshuffled to become the Eastern, Southern, Western, Northern and Central theater commands replacing seven regional commands named after the cities in which their headquarters were located - Beijing, Shenyang, Jinan, Lanzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu and Guangzhou. The CMC also established a Joint Operations Command Center and a Joint Logistics Support Force.
The latest developments came in early December, when Xi called for a smaller Army and ordered the structure of the military to be adjusted and optimized.
According to PLA Daily, the president is hoping that the PLA can become a smaller but more integrated and flexible fighting force, and that new types of combat units should be given special priority.
Each combatant branch of the PLA - the Army, Navy, Air Force and Rocket Force - has confirmed that realistic training drills and exercises were intensified last year. The Army sent 15 brigades to participate in more than 100 drills; the Air Force conducted at least six large, long-range training drills in the Western Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea; the Rocket Force carried out more than 20 exercises and launched nearly 100 ballistic missiles during exercises; and the Navy organized three live-fire exercises that featured a large number of forces from its three fleets.
In addition, the CNS Liaoning carrier battle group conducted its first live-fire drill, four years after the carrier was commissioned.
Other less-obvious administrative changes have taken place and are expected to affect the PLA's development path in the wake of the reform, according to observers.
The CMC's Joint Staff Department set up a theater environment support bureau and an overseas operations office; the PLA Central Theater Command established a military requirement bureau; and the PLA Southern Theater Command founded an information support bureau. In addition, commanders and staff officers have been ordered to improve their capabilities in joint operations and the use of information.
The moves indicate that the military has been concentrating its resources to ensure that every component will focus on preparation and winning wars, the observers said.
Modernization
In addition to the structural overhaul, the PLA also made strides in armament modernization last year. The Air Force is now taking delivery of the Y-20 strategic transport plane, mass production of the J-20 stealth fighter is understood to have started. A next-generation strategic bomber is also being developed for the Air Force and is expected to be unveiled soon.
At the same time, the first domestically designed aircraft carrier is taking shape at a shipyard in Dalian, Liaoning province, while the Rocket Force has commissioned a new type of strategic ballistic missile.
A sweeping anti-corruption campaign within the military did not ease up last year. According to the information available, at least seven high-ranking officers - including the former political commissar of the PLA Air Force and the former commander of the People's Armed Police Force - were placed under internal investigation after being accused of corrupt activities.
More than 50 senior officers at the rank of major general or higher - including Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong, the former vice-chairmen of the Central Military Commission - have been convicted or placed under disciplinary probes since Xi took office in 2012.
