Beijing garrison gets a new commander

The former commander of the People's Liberation Army's 12th Group Army has become chief of the Beijing Military Garrison, according to local media.

During an inspection tour in Beijing on Monday by General Chang Wanquan, minister of defense, who checked the capital's air defense network, Major General Wang Chunning was introduced to Beijing officials as the new commander of the Beijing Military Garrison, according to Capitalnews, the WeChat account run by Beijing Daily.

The garrison was established in 1959 and takes orders from the PLA Central Theater Command and the Beijing municipal government. It is responsible for guarding the capital, training militia forces, managing PLA military police in the city and assisting with law enforcement upon request, according to information published by the PLA.

The former chief of the garrison, Lieutenant General Pan Liangshi, is now deputy commander of the PLA Army, the People's Army reported earlier this month. Pan was appointed the garrison's head in December 2013 from his pervious post as the commander of the PLA 39th Group Army.

Wang had been the commander of the PLA 12th Group Army since 2014. Before that, he spent many years in the PLA 1st Group Army, moving up through ranks from the unit's equipment head to chief of staff and finally to deputy commander, Capitalnews said.

Wang wrote in the April 23, 2014, issue of PLA Daily that officers must pay attention to studying their enemies' strategies, tactics, thoughts, cultures and histories so they can win a war.

In another development, Major General Zhang Xiaoming was named commander of the Shanghai Military Garrison after serving as the top officer of the Jiangxi Provincial Military Command. He replaced Major General He Weidong, who has been promoted to commander of the PLA Western Theater Command's ground force, Jiangxi newspaper Information Daily reported.