Reporter丨Zhong Jian Editor丨Cui Shihai
At the end of 2019, the People's Liberation Army and the Armed Police Force ushered in the second centralized promotion ceremony for general officers.
On December 12, the Central Military Commission’s promotion ceremony to the rank of general was held at the Bayi Building in Beijing. Seven officers were promoted to generals. They are: Commander of the Eastern Theater Command He Weidong, Political Commissar of the Eastern Theater Command He Ping, Political Commissar of the Southern Theater Command Wang Jianwu, Commander of the Northern Theater Command Li Qiaoming, Commander of the Rocket Force Zhou Yaning, Commander of the Strategic Support Force Li Fengbiao, and President of the Academy of Military Sciences Yang Xuejun.
In addition to generals, within five days, the Armed Police Force, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Defense University, and National University of Defense Technology also held promotion ceremonies:
On December 9, the Armed Police Force held a ceremony for promotion to the ranks of lieutenant general and major general. One police officer was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, and 36 police officers were promoted to the rank of major general.
On the morning of December 10, the Army held a ceremony for promotion to the ranks of lieutenant general and major general. 6 people were promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and 46 people were promoted to the rank of major general.
On the afternoon of December 10, the National Defense University held a promotion ceremony to the rank of major general. 4 people were promoted to the rank of major general.
On the morning of December 12, the Navy held a promotion ceremony to the rank of general officer. 4 people were promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and 27 people were promoted to the rank of major general.
On the afternoon of December 13, the Air Force held a promotion ceremony to the rank of general officer. 5 people were promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, and 38 people were promoted to the rank of major general.
On the afternoon of December 13, the University of Defense Technology held a promotion ceremony to the rank of major general. 3 people were promoted to the rank of major general.
On December 12, 2019, the Central Military Commission’s promotion ceremony to the rank of general was held grandly at the Bayi Building in Beijing. Chairman of the Central Military Commission Xi Jinping issued orders to military officers who were promoted to the rank of general.
According to public statistics, in this round of promotions, 7 people in the People's Liberation Army and the Armed Police Force have been promoted to generals, 16 people have been promoted to lieutenant generals, 154 people have been promoted to major generals, and a total of 177 officers and police officers have been promoted to senior generals. The number and scale of promotions is the largest since the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, exceeding the total number in the past few years.
For more than one general, 7 generals have been promoted to generals this time. Including the 10 generals who were promoted on the eve of August 1, 2019, a total of 17 officers were newly promoted to the rank of general in 2019. The number of lieutenant generals promoted at the end of the year also reached 16, with a balanced distribution and a considerable number, while as many as hundreds of major generals were promoted.
Every year on the eve of Army Day, the People's Liberation Army and the Armed Police Force will hold a promotion ceremony for general officers, and the top military leader of the Communist Party of China will issue a certificate of order. The second general promotion ceremony at the end of 2019 was obviously not a routine arrangement, but a prelude to the reform of the military personnel management system, another important part of the military reform.
html A few days before the second large-scale promotion of general officers at the end of 2000, the Central Military Commission specially issued the "Notice on the Advance Adjustment of Policies on the Promotion of Officers above the Military Rank", proposing that in accordance with the direction of the professionalization reform of officers, the rank-led officer hierarchy system will be fully rolled out.The current military rank system has been implemented in the People's Liberation Army and the Armed Police Force for more than 30 years, and there has been a lot of discussion inside and outside the military. Military intelligence sources in Beijing analyzed that the professionalization of military officers has been a direction that the Chinese Communist Party’s military has been calling for reform for many years. However, due to the constraints of the original organizational structure, it has only been discussed at a theoretical level for a long time and has been unable to take substantive steps. After five years of military reform, the military's organizational form has undergone tremendous reshaping changes, and an ecosystem has been formed to adapt to the professional reform of officers.
This round of centralized and large-scale adjustments of senior generals means that the top-level design of the officer management system dominated by military ranks has been completed, and the ice-breaking move to reform the professionalization of officers has begun.
A large number of general promotions broke the rules
Judging from the list of the second batch of promotions, many senior generals involved in the five major theaters, services, strategic support forces and the Academy of Military Sciences of the People's Liberation Army were promoted to the rank of general, bringing the total number of active generals in the Chinese Communist Army to nearly 50, also reaching the highest number in history.
The basic requirements for the promotion of generals in the People's Liberation Army are: the position level is a regional officer or above, the rank of lieutenant general has been for 4 years, and the regional position has been for 2 years. Judging from the qualifications of senior generals who were promoted to generals this time, many people broke the rules and were promoted to generals ahead of schedule.There are also senior generals who do not meet the original promotion conditions. Their selection as generals shows that the old rules of the military personnel system have quietly changed.
For example, He Weidong, commander of the Eastern Theater Command, and He Ping, political commissar, were originally lieutenant generals, but have now been promoted to the rank of general. He Weidong previously served as deputy commander of the Western Theater Command and commander of the Army. This promotion to general is his first public appearance as commander of the Eastern Theater Command. He Ping was previously the deputy political commissar and director of the Political Work Department of the Western Theater Command. In September 2017, he was appointed political commissar of the Eastern Theater Command.
Wang Jianwu, political commissar of the Southern Theater Command, served in the former Jinan Military Region for a long time. He served as director of the political department of the former 54th Group Army of the Army and political commissar of the former Jinan Military Region Joint Logistics Department. After the military reform, he served as political commissar of the Tibet Military Region. In July 2017, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. In January 2019, he was appointed political commissar of the southern theater. Less than two and a half years after his promotion to lieutenant general, he was promoted to general this time.
Rocket Force commander Zhou Yaning has served in the former Second Artillery Artillery for a long time. He once served as the commander of a missile brigade, director of the logistics department, chief of staff of the former Second Artillery Base 52, commander of the 53rd Base, commander of the 52nd Base, and former deputy commander of the Second Artillery. After the military reform, he was appointed deputy commander of the Rocket Force and commander in September 2017. In August 2016, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general.
Strategic Support Force Commander Li Fengbiao was appointed as deputy commander of the former Chengdu Military Region in 2014. He is now deputy commander and chief of staff of the central theater. He is still at the deputy military region level and has been promoted to the rank of general this time. Yang Xuejun, dean of the Academy of Military Sciences, is the oldest among the generals who were promoted to generals. He was promoted to the deputy military region level in 2013 and to the chief military region level two years ago. He meets the original promotion conditions of two years of service in the region and four years of lieutenant general rank.
In December 2019, the army, navy, air force and armed police forces held promotion ceremonies one after another.
It’s not just generals. Judging from the 16 lieutenant generals and more than a hundred major generals who were promoted, there are also many generals who broke the rules and were promoted ahead of schedule. "This is a special arrangement during the reform period of the military's personnel system, not due to other factors." A Beijing military observer analyzed that from the perspective of conventional officer training and promotion channels, the military values large-scale job rotation and cross-service appointment of senior generals in order to enrich officers' service experience and improve their overall quality to adapt to joint operations under informationized conditions. Judging from the senior generals promoted this time, many have such experience, and some of them have combat, rescue and other experience.
For example, Yang Zhiliang, the former political commissar of the Naval Research Institute, known as the "Guardian of Nansha", was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general this time. Yang Zhiliang participated in the 1988 Nansha Naval Battle. The naval battle at Chigua Reef in the Nansha Islands was the Chinese navy’s most recent actual battle. According to deeds disclosed by the military, during the "March 14" naval battle to safeguard territorial sovereignty, after Yang Zhiliang's left arm was severed by a bullet, he pinned the injured arm to his belt and continued to fight bravely, earning first-class military merit.
In 2015, Yang Zhiliang served as deputy director of the Political Department of the South China Sea Fleet and became a deputy military officer. In January 2018, Yang Zhiliang was appointed political commissar of the Naval Research Institute. More than a year later, Yang Zhiliang was promoted to deputy general at the military region level. The above-mentioned military intelligence observer said that in peacetime, especially during sensitive military reshuffles, the military insists on selecting the best in the promotion of officer positions and ranks. If Yang Zhiliang had not had such military exploits, he would not have been promoted in advance or skipped a grade, in order to reduce the occurrence of comparisons and corruption.
This large-scale promotion to major general, lieutenant general and general indicates that the military personnel management system will break through the norm.
The "Notice on the Advance Adjustment of Relevant Policies for the Promotion of Officers above the Military Rank" issued by the General Office of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China emphasizes: "Constructing a rank-led officer ranking system as a guideline, comprehensively consider the adjustment of promotion policies for officers of different ranks and types. "
An unnamed military source said that this batch of promotions at the end of 2019 may be the last batch of generals to be implemented according to the original military rank management system. Newly promoted senior military generals will be assigned positions and will be implemented in strict accordance with the new military rank promotion system in the future.
In December 2019, the army, navy, air force and armed police forces held promotion ceremonies one after another.
"One position, one rank" will be the norm
The series of wordings in the notice issued by the Military Commission make it difficult to know the specific details of this round of military rank system reform.However, judging from the contents of this promotion of officers above the military level, it is obvious that the military rank system of the People's Liberation Army and the Armed Police Force will undergo major adjustments and changes.
The current military rank system of the People's Liberation Army and the Armed Police Force is based on lieutenant, colonel and general. The promotion of officers can be compared in terms of military rank and military position.
In terms of military ranks, the People's Liberation Army established a military rank system in 1955, but it was abolished in 1965 and was not restored until 1988. After the military rank system was restored in 1988, all military members of the Central Military Commission held the rank of general. The members of the Military Commission in subsequent sessions were composed of generals who were promoted to generals in 1988 and generals who were awarded lieutenant generals in 1988 and were later promoted to generals. The core of the 1988 version of the PLA military rank system is to divide PLA and Armed Police officers into ten levels, from second lieutenant platoon leader to deputy national general, and each level has a statutory time limit for promotion.
After the establishment of the military rank system, the military rank promotion system of the People's Liberation Army and the Armed Police Force has generally formed a pattern: generally, grassroots lieutenants and colonels are promoted every four years. Senior generals ranging from division level to deputy major general and above adopt a selection and promotion system based on the officer's position, moral integrity and contribution to national defense construction. The difficulty of promotion to the military rank is beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Public data show that before the military reform, the People's Liberation Army had more than 1,300 division-level colonels, while only a few hundred senior generals became deputy major generals. It was very difficult to go from major general to lieutenant general and general. Interpreted according to the current military rank system, it usually takes five to six years for a PLA lieutenant general to be promoted to general, and some may take longer. Those who do not meet the promotion conditions can only retire with their current military rank after reaching the age.
Beijing military experts said that the existing PLA military rank system has been implemented for more than 30 years and has many drawbacks and shortcomings. It is a product of the Continental Army era and is no longer suitable for the existing military organizational system. There is an urgent need to form a military rank system that conforms to the new system.
In December 2019, the army, navy, air force and armed police forces held promotion ceremonies one after another.
"The original military rank system is somewhat official-based." The above-mentioned military experts said that although the army experienced a one-million-dollar reduction in the number of redundant personnel, the organizational structure has not been changed. There are still a large number of non-command officers in combat forces, military academies, and headquarters leadership agencies. Due to the limited number of officer posts, many officers were unable to obtain corresponding posts due to limited positions. According to the original military rank system, when an officer reached their age limit, his position would not change, and his military rank could be promoted normally.
The situation caused by this is that in the existing People's Liberation Army and Armed Police Forces, there are many officers and police officers with low positions and high military ranks.
If they are not in the same military system, they are usually only based on military rank, and it is difficult to distinguish between their positions.
"A deputy military commander and a deputy commander of a military region's services and arms often hold the rank of major general. A senior colonel can correspond to the three positions of deputy division, chief division and deputy corps." The above-mentioned military experts said that whether from the perspective of the PLA's foreign military exchange activities or the joint operational command of various services and arms, this position-oriented officer management system is difficult to adapt to the needs of modern combat training.
A Beijing military expert revealed that the core content of this round of military rank system reform is to implement a "one position for one rank" system. For example, there is a certain correspondence between the ranks and positions of foreign military officers, usually captain-company commander, colonel-regiment commander, brigadier general-brigade commander, major general-division commander, lieutenant general-corps commander, general-theater commander.
Judging from the promotion situation of general officers in this round, the corresponding design of the military ranks and positions of senior generals in the future is likely to be that the deputy corps corresponds to the major general, and the deputy military region and the chief military region correspond to lieutenant generals and generals. The promotion of officers will be dominated by military rank, and promotions will also be carried out simultaneously. The phenomenon of senior colonels serving as deputy military commanders and major generals serving as deputy commanders of military regions will go into history.
In December 2019, the army, navy, air force and armed police forces held promotion ceremonies one after another.
Distinguishing officer levels only by military rank
The centralized promotion of general officers at the end of 2019 is an early adjustment to the top-level military rank system of the military and is also a signal of the start of professionalization of officers.
Judging from the public notice of the Central Military Commission, the People's Liberation Army and the Armed Police Force will also "focus on the command and management of officers above the military level, organize step by step, push forward, and straighten out the corresponding relationship between military ranks and job levels step by step, and revise the law for military officers." "It provides demonstration guidance and practical support for the implementation of the order."
Some analysts said that asymmetry in military ranks and positions is also a common phenomenon in combat troops. Captains, deputy company commanders, and lieutenant commanders are very common. After the military reform troops were abolished, it is not uncommon for senior colonels and company commanders to be included in the military. According to mainland military media reports, Wu Wucheng, 54 years old in 2019, is a military doctor in the health company of a service support battalion of a synthetic brigade of the Army's 80th Group Army, with the rank of senior colonel. Wu Wucheng was originally the director of the brigade hospital, with a professional technical level of Level 6. During the 2018 military restructuring, the brigade hospital was reorganized into a health company. Wu Wucheng lost the title of director and became the commander of the health company.
The current military rank system is a job-based system that mainly determines status, qualifications, and benefits based on positions (ranks). From a conventional perspective, it is unbelievable that Wu Cheng, who has the equivalent of a regular teacher's salary, becomes a company commander. However, compared with the rank-led officer management system implemented by the world's mainstream military countries, it will not be difficult to understand the phenomenon of "Friday" in the future.
The above-mentioned military experts said that military rank dominance refers to the implementation of officer management based on military rank, while systematically designing and arranging various systems such as officers' service years, training and exchanges, selection and appointment, retirement and placement. Military ranks reflect elements such as abilities, academic qualifications, and military exploits, and determine their status, benefits, wages and other benefits.
"Various positions do not have a unified administrative level, but are divided into vertical levels according to their respective professional characteristics. Officers assume corresponding positions according to their assessed professional qualifications or military ranks. This can institutionally change the situation where the position is all-encompassing and is conducive to accelerating the professionalization process of officers." This expert once expected the vision of a rank-oriented professionalization reform for officers.
In other words, whether it is a company commander, a regiment commander, a brigade commander, or a military commander, the position is just a career platform for officers to perform their duties and obtain promotion qualifications. There is no distinction between high and low. The essence is to determine the person according to the situation. The military rank is a concentrated reflection of the praise, growth and progress of his military career.
"Once the new rank-oriented officer management system is fully implemented, it will be a subversive move to break the concept of military officer-centeredness." Some analysts said that using military rank as the basic symbol to distinguish officer levels, the evaluation of military ranks can take into account officers' qualifications, academic qualifications and other conditions, which will help improve the basic quality of officers; at the same time, because military ranks follow people, officers will have a greater sense of security and stability, and their benefits will not change due to changes in positions or new appointments.
Looking at a longer timeline, the People's Liberation Army is about to implement an officer management system dominated by military ranks, which is also a sign of the beginning of a comprehensive reform of the military personnel system with the professionalization of officers as the core. The People's Liberation Army has been exploring the professionalization of military officers for a long time, but previous explorations could not be piloted or implemented due to immature external conditions.
After the Central Military Reform Conference in 2015, five theaters were established one after another, and the army agencies, strategic support force, rocket force, and joint logistics support force were completed, marking the completion of the reform of the leadership and command system and the reform of the joint logistics support system. The reform of the military human resources system with the professionalization of officers as the general direction is bound to be put on the agenda. This is an inevitable choice to adapt to the new military revolution and market economy environment.
Experts said that at this stage, the non-commissioned officer selection system of the People's Liberation Army and the Armed Police Force and the selection of military civilian personnel have reached maturity, and another symbol that reflects the professional characteristics of officers - the officer retirement security system is also becoming increasingly complete. On this basis, it is logical to follow the world's military trends, implement an officer management system with military rank as the core, or make appropriate improvements to the existing personnel system.
* This article was created by [Phoenix WEEKLY] , the author of the Tree Project, and is exclusively published on Toutiao. No reproduction is allowed without authorization.
