China to create new joint military command system

The Chinese military is to establish a joint operational command system "in due course," which would result in more-coordinated and combat-capable forces to efficiently respond to a crisis, state media said Friday. Setting up the system is a basic requirement in an era of information, and the military has launched positive pilot programs in this regard, the the Defense Ministry told China Daily. The ministry said the modernization of the military is not targeted at any country, according to the newspaper. Ouyang Wei, a professor at the National Defense University of the People's Liberation Army, said a joint operational command system highlights unified command and information sharing across at least two different military forces, according to the newspaper. "It would help the military respond quickly to a contingency," Wei was quoted as saying. Zhao Xiaozhuo, deputy director of the center on China-US defense relations at the People's Liberation Army Academy of Military Science, said the seven military regions were established in 1985, with the army as the backbone force. China has been trying to optimize the allocation of these military regions, given that incidents are increasingly likely to happen at sea, said Zhao, citing as an example the disputed islets with japan in the East China Sea. The Chinese navy conducted a series of increasingly complex and powerful thrusts into the Pacific Ocean in 2013, the report said, adding that its sole aircraft carrier returned to its home port in East China on Wednesday after completing tests and training in the South China Sea for the first time.