VIRTUAL TRAINING: Soldiers of a military unit in Liu'an City, Anhui Province, recieve simulated training for motor maintenance on July 31, 2011 (ZHENG JINQIANG)

On December 21, 2011, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) established the Military Training Department under its General Staff Headquarters.

The new organ grew out of a department of military training and arms services.

"It is a 'historic overhaul' for the military training wing of the PLA and a major step to strengthen the joint training of different branches of the armed forces in the face of new situations and tasks," said Chen Bingde, Chief of the General Staff of the PLA.

According to Chen, the reshuffle will enable better overall management of military training for the army as well as the navy, air force, and the strategic nuclear force.

Peng Guangqian, a retired PLA major general and military analyst in Beijing, said that the establishment of the Military Training Department is consistent with the theme of PLA reforms over the last decade, which have aimed to improve the quality of military personnel.

The Military Training Department was the second new department established under the PLA General Staff Headquarters within the space of a month. The Strategic Planning Department was set up on November 22 last year.

"The actions are just the continuation of other military reforms made by the PLA in recent years, including the reform to military academies in July 2011. The process will continue in future," said Li Jie, a researcher with the PLA Navy's Academic Research Institute.

Enhancing management

According to Luo Yuan, Deputy Secretary General of the China Society of Military Science, the establishment of the Strategic Planning Department under the PLA General Staff Headquarters is in response to the increasingly sophisticated military operations that may take place in the future involving multiple combat forces and headquarters.

"The new department will become an authoritative and comprehensive planning center," Luo said.

The Strategic Planning Department has been tasked with studying key strategic issues, drawing out development plans for the military's growth, and drafting proposals on the general allocation and macro-control of the military's strategic resources.

It is also responsible for coordinating reform efforts across different military departments and checking and evaluating the implementation of the military's development plan.

"With the progress of military reforms across the world, military organizational structures are becoming increasingly complex, and there is a growing requirement for strategic management," said Geng Yansheng, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense.

Song Xiaojun, a Beijing-based military analyst, hopes the Strategic Planning Department will establish a new security framework for the PLA's future development direction.

Last December also saw the establishment of three separate research centers in the PLA Academy of Military Science for military-civilian integration, non-war military operations and national defense policy.

Liao Xilong, Director of the PLA General Logistics Department, said that the establishment of the Military-Civilian Integration Research Center was expected to change the current mode of the military scientific research as it provides a broader platform for connecting theory and practice and promoting military and civilian exchanges and cooperation.

The Non-War Military Operations Research Center was established to push forward the in-depth development of theoretical research in this regard, said the PLA Daily.

"The research center will keep abreast of the latest research achievements and cutting-edge developments at home and abroad so as to increase Chinese armed forces' capability for theoretical research into non-war military operations. It will also train researchers who specialize in non-war military operations," said an official with the research center.