Guo Boxiong

General Guo Boxiong (郭伯雄) (1942-) is the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), responsible for weapon equipment and logistics of the armed forces. He is the highest ranking uniform officer in the PLA, and ranks No.2 in the CMC after the Chairman Hu Jintao. Guo is also a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party. Guo was appointed his current position in November 2001. Before that he was the Executive Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the PLA.

Guo was born in July 1942 in Shaanxi Province and joined the PLA at age 19 in August 1961. Between 1961~1964, he was a soldier in the PLA 19th Army / 55th Division. He became a member of the Chinese Communist Party in 1963. When Guo completed his conscription service in 1964, he was promoted to the platoon commander position in his unit. In 1965 he was promoted again to become an administrator in the propaganda branch of the 168th Regiment’s political department. He served as a junior officer in the regiment’s headquarters between 1966 and 1971, and a staff in the Operations & Training Department of the 19th Army Headquarters between 1971 and 1981. He became the department chief in 1981.

Guo studied in the PLA Military Academy between 1981 and 1983, while he served as the Chief of Staff of the 55th Division and later as the deputy head of the operations department of the Lanzhou Military Region (MR) Headquarters. After graduation, he served as the Chief of Staff of the 19th Army between 1983 and 1985. After the 19th Army was disbanded in 1985, Guo avoided the fate of compulsory retirement and was appointed the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Lanzhou MR. In 1990, Guo became the Commander of the 47th Group Army. In 1993, he was transferred to Beijing MR to become the Deputy MR Commander. In 1997, he returned to the Lanzhou MR to become the MR Commander and the Executive Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the Lanzhou MR.

In 1999, Guo was appointed the Executive Deputy Chief of the General Staff, and was promoted to General. At the same time he became a member of the CMC. In November 2001, Guo became the Vice Chairman of the CMC and a member of the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo.

Last update: 24 August 2008