The Beijing Military Region (MR), or Beijing Military Area Command (MAC), is responsible for the defence of northern China, and in particular, the Chinese capital Beijing. Its area of responsibilities (AOR) includes Beijing Municipality, Tianjin Municipality, Shanxi Province, Hebei Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (excluding its four northeast administrative areas). The military region is bordered to the north by Mongolia and the Russian Far East.
Historically, the Beijing MR has always been the largest military region based on troops strength. During the Cold War-era, the PLA deployed a large amount of troops along the northern border to defence the country against a possible invasion by the Soviet force from Mongolia. During its peak time in the 1970s, the Beijing MR deployed 8 corps.
In 1985, the Beijing MR lost two corps (66th and 69th). The rest six corps were reorganised into six combined-arms group armies.
During the force reduction programme in 1998, the Beijing MR’s 28th Group Army (GA) was disbanded.
During the force reduction programme in 2003/04, the 24th GA and 63rd GA were disbanded, leaving the military region with only three group armies left.
Currently the Beijing MR is composed of the 27th GA, 38th GA, 65th GA, Beijing and Tianjin Garrison Districts, and Hebei, Shanxi, and Inner Mongolia Military Districts. The 38th GA is regarded as the most elite group army of the PLA, equipped with a large amount of artillery pieces, armoured vehicles, helicopter, and tactical missiles.
Units that are directly subordinated to the military region headquarters include a chemical defence regiment and possibly an engineer regiment.
In time of emergency, the PLA will form the Beijing War Zone (Theatre), a temporary joint-service operational headquarters responsible for the command and control of all ground, air, and armed police forces stationed in the military region. The war zone headquarters will be based on the Beijing MR HQ, with staffs from the Beijing Military Region Air Force (MRAF) and the People’s Armed Police (PAP) forces.
The Beijing MR does not have subordinated naval forces. The navy bases and units stationed along the coast line in its AOR belong to the PLA Navy North Sea Fleet under the command of Jinan MR.
