Assessing Operations and ‘Jointness’ in the PLA Western Theater Command

Published on May 16, 2024

Executive Summary

Under Chinese President Xi Jinping, since 2015-16, the Chinese military force, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), has undergone massive reforms. As part of the reforms, the PLA has focused intensively on preparing for combat under conditions of the ‘Information Age’, integrating its services, arms and systems into a joint, network-centric fighting force.

The PLA Western Theater Command (WTC) in particular, has played a proactive role in working under conditions of ‘informatization’ and ‘intelligentization’ to secure China’s southern and southwestern borders, prepare for conventional and non-conventional warfighting, and acclimatise its personnel to the rough terrains and harsh altitudes of Xinjiang and Tibet.

From an Indian interests point of view, this discussion document assesses the operational structure, training mandates and warfighting priorities of the WTC, with a special emphasis on studying the theater’s ‘multi-domain integrated joint operations’ efforts and capabilities.

The author would like to thank Manoj Kewalramani, KK Venkatraman & Aditya Ramanathan for their research support.

Author