People's Armed Police Beijing General Corps
Last updated: 14 April 2008
The PAP Beijing General Corps is responsible for maintaining security and social order in the Chinese capital Beijing. The unit is one of the best trained and equipped provincial/municipal-level general corps in the PAP Internal Guards. Currently the Beijing General Corps consists of three divisions (1st, 2nd, and 3rd) and two brigades (9th and 13th Detachment), with a total strength of over 30,000 personnel. The general corps is responsible for safeguarding key targets and installations located in the city and suburb, and dealing with various emergency situations such as protests and riots. The Beijing General Corps plays a key role in the security of the 2008 Olympic Game.
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| Honour guards of the PAP Tiananmen Detachment in the flag raising ceremony at the Tiananmen Square (Source: China News Agency) |
Before the 1983, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Beijing Garrison District under the Beijing Military Region was solely responsible for the security responsibility of the PRC capital Beijing. In its peak time, the Beijing Garrison District deployed four guard divisions to protect key government targets and installations in the city. In 1983, the Beijing Garrison District transferred its 2nd Guard Division to the newly founded People’s Armed Police (PAP) to form the Beijing General Corps (wujing Beijing zongdui).
Following the crackdown of the student demonstration in June 1989, the Beijing General Corps was strengthened so that it could deal with a similar situation in the future. A second PAP general corps was formed in Beijing on the basis of the PLA 4th Guard Division, which was transferred from the Beijing Garrison District to the PAP in 1991. While the 1st Beijing General Corps was responsible for safeguarding static targets in the city, the 2nd Beijing General Corps was a mobile unit for dealing with emergencies and “mass incidents”. In 1999, the two general corps were merged into a single general corps, but with a higher rank in the PAP’s administrative structure.
Currently the Beijing General Corps has a total of nineteen subordinate detachments, each assigned with a specific target of protection. For example, the 11th Detachment stationed in Nanyuan is responsible for firing artillery gun solutes in state ceremonies and events. The 12th Detachment is responsible for guarding the Qinghe Prison in the north suburb. The 17th Detachment is responsible for safeguarding the Space Technology Research & Experiment Centre (“Beijing Space City”) in the northwest suburb. There is also a unit known as Tiananmen Detachment responsible for the security of the Tiananmen Square region. The 9th (Brigade) Detachment stationed in the Dongcheng District is responsible for safeguarding the foreign embassies and UN organisations in Beijing.
The 13th (Brigade) Detachment is an elite “special duty unit”, which is specially trained and equipped to carry out high risk missions such as hostage rescue, counter-terrorism, engaging heavily-armed criminals, and dealing with abrupt “mass incidents”. The unit took part in the joint counter-terrorism exercise with the Russian Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affair (VVMVD) in 2007. The 13th (Brigade) Detachment has also dispatched diplomatic protection teams to be deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan to protect the Chinese embassies and diplomats.
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| The Tiananmen Detachment of the PAP Beijing General Corps guarding the Tiananmen Square (Source: China News Agency) |
Olympic Game Security
A report by the Chinese Xinhua News Agency in January 2008 revealed that 27,500 PAP troops would be deployed during the Beijing Olympic Game, sharing the security responsibility with 40,000 police officers, 10,000 civilian security staffs, and 5,000 volunteers.
In October 2002, the PAP Beijing General Corps formed a dedicated special police unit (SPU) known as “Snow Wolf Commando Unit”. The unit is tasked with the counter-terrorism and anti-hijacking roles during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Game. Based on the personnel of the 3rd Group (special-duty group) subordinate to the 13th (Brigade) Detachment, the 300-men commando unit is organised into four squadrons: 9th and 10th Squadron responsible for the counter-terrorism role, 11th Squadron responsible for obstacle removal, bomb disposal, and dealing with radiological, biological and chemical terrorism activities, and 12th Squadron responsible for long-range sniper fire support.
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| The "Snow Wolf Commando Unit" activated in October 2002 is responsible for the counter-terrorism and anti-hijacking mission during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Game (Source: China News Agency) |
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