From: "Stasi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Peoples War] China: Generals Beef Up Southern Defence - SCMP SCMP.com - South China Morning Post Saturday, November 3, 2001 Generals beef up southern defence ======================= OLIVER CHOU The headquarters of the PLA Air Force covering southern China has received a significant boost from the appointment of two senior and experienced generals. Analysts believe the beefing-up of the military command of Guangzhou Military Region - the largest on the mainland, which also covers Hong Kong - is designed to heighten the PLA's readiness for any war over Taiwan. It is also being viewed as an attempt to boost morale in the wake of the April collision between a United States Navy spy plane and a PLA fighter jet, which killed a Chinese pilot and heightened tensions with America. Lieutenant-General Lu Denghua and Zhu Yongqing, who holds the same rank, have been appointed air force commander and political commissar respectively for the region. It is unusual for the PLA to appoint new generals to both posts simultaneously. The appointments also deserve attention given their distinguished service records and extensive connections. Guangzhou is the largest military region by area in China, covering Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei, and Hainan provinces, as well as Hong Kong and Macau. The region also contains potential flashpoints: Taiwan, the Spratly islands - contested by Beijing and a number of Southeast Asian nations - and the airspace near Hainan Island, where the mid-air collision took place. New Guangzhou air commander General Lu has had three consecutive assignments as regional commander. He previously was in charge of air defence in Shenyang, and was in charge of the Air Force at Nanjing during the height of the 1996 cross-strait crisis when the PLA fired three missiles as warning shots "across the bow" of Taiwan following then Taiwan president Lee Teng-hui's visit to the United States. General Lu then commanded the air fleet charged with facing off with Taiwan, including those in Fujian province, opposite the island. Now that he is in charge of the entire South China theatre, General Lu will be seeking to enhance co-ordination between units along the eastern and southern coasts with the possibility of a Taiwan conflict in mind. An exercise held the month after the April collision seemed designed to send a message to any other US Navy aircraft carrying out eavesdropping operations in the region. A fighter jet under the control of the Guangzhou command flew for a few hours to challenge two "enemy aircraft". "While the enemy planes were about to attack, our jet fighter managed to dodge and took position to 'shoot' them down," said a report from the China News Service. So impressed were generals from air-force headquarters inspecting the drills that they took the rare step of treating troops to maotai, Chinese wine usually served at receptions for state guests. Guangzhou air command's new political commissar, General Zhu, is a veteran airborne expert from the 15th Airborne Army in Hubei province, which is under Guangzhou command. During the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, General Zhu was then top political officer of the airborne troops and led two airborne brigades to secretly land in Beijing soon after martial law was imposed. The brigades were also among the first troops that stormed into Tiananmen Square on the morning of June 4. General Zhu was subsequently promoted to become deputy political commissar of the Guangzhou air-force command. In 1996, he received another promotion to become chief commissar of the Chengdu Military Region, which includes Tibet, another major trouble spot. Meanwhile, top PLA General Zhang Wannian, during an extensive inspection tour of Nanjing late in August, told troops to "pay special attention to and raise comprehensively the capability of joint-force operations". According to a military analyst, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the emphasis on "joint-force operations" could refer to air-force units from Guangzhou and Nanjing commands working together or involve airborne troops and marines functioning jointly. General Zhang is seen as a hawk who has been in charge of all military exercises and deployments in the Taiwan Strait since becoming a vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission in 1995. He served as Guangzhou regional commander from 1987 to 1990 and had a decisive role in co-ordinating the units from the 15th Airborne Army to enforce martial law in Beijing in June 1989. He continued to take a keen interest in the Guangzhou command, and recently toured areas with Generals Lu and Zhu, demonstrating the Beijing leadership's belief that tensions in the region of the South China Sea are far from relieved. Oliver Chou is a Hong Kong-based China analyst ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
