Xinjiang Military District

Xinjiang Military District
中国人民解放军新疆军区
Map of Xinjiang Military District in 2024]]
Founded	1 February 2016; 8 years ago (2016-02-01)
Country	People's Republic of China
Allegiance	Chinese Communist Party
Type	Military District of the PLA
Role	Command and control
Part of	People's Liberation Army
Headquarters	Xinjiang, Urumqi
Commanders
Commander	Lieutenant General Liu Lin
Political Commisar	Lieutenant General Yang Cheng
Chief of Staff	Major General Halmurat Abdulrahman

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v t e

The Xinjiang Military District (新疆军区) is a special military area of the PLA at the Theater Deputy-grade.(副战区级). It is one of three districts (Tibet and Beijing being the other two) that are directly under the Central Military Commission and its Joint Army Staff rather than under their Theater Command^[1] (in this case, the Western Theater Command.)^[2]

The district includes all of Xinjiang, plus the Ngari district of Tibet.^[3] It has also direct military jurisdiction over the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC).

History

The current Xinjiang Military District was created in 2016 from the former Lanzhou Military Region as part of the 2015 reforms. While it is officially under the jurisdiction of the Western Theater, it is directly controlled by the Joint General Staff due to the special vulnerabilities of the region, both internally and externally.^{[citation needed]}

The XMD covers the contested area of Aksai Chin, and it is a sensitive hotspot in China's borders. In 2020, it was the XMD that got involved in skirmishes and a protracted stand-off with India.^[4]

Recently (as of 2024) there have been efforts to create a "six-in-one" border defense system, in which the PLA, the police, the militia, party officials, government officials, and civilians would cooperate in patrolling the enormously long and harsh border of both the Xinjiang and Tibet MDs, with an emphasis on local nomadic tribes that know the terrain and are highly mobile by definition.^[5]

Territorial Command Divisions

The XMD is divided into the northern district and the southern Xinjiang subdistrict (Nanjiang), which is a Theater Deputy graded (正军级) unit responsible for the volatile Sino-Indian border.^[6]

These two main sub-areas are then divided into the following command sectors, generally comprising a prefecture:

• Directly under the Xinjiang Military District:
  • Urumqi Garrison Area (乌鲁木齐警备区)
  • Karamay Military Sector (克拉玛依军分区)
  • Shihezi Military Sector (石河子军分区)
  • Turpan Military Sector (吐鲁番军分区)
  • Hami Military Sector (哈密军分区)
  • Changji Military Sector (昌吉军分区)
  • Ili Military Sector (伊犁军分区)
  • Tacheng Military Sector (塔城军分区)
  • Altay Military Sector (阿勒泰军分区)
  • Bortala Military Sector (博尔塔拉军分区)
• Southern Xinjiang Military Region (Corps grade) – 南疆军区
  • Bayingolin Military Sector (巴音郭楞军分区)
  • Aksu Military Sector (阿克苏军分区)
  • Kashgar Military Sector (喀什军分区)
  • Kizilsu Military Sector (克孜勒苏军分区)
  • Hotan Military Sector (和田军分区)
  • Ngari Military Sector (阿里军分区)
• XPCC Military Department (Corps Deputy grade) 新疆生产建设兵团军事部

Current Military Units

As of 2022, the People's Liberation Army Ground Force units garrisoning the District are as follows (including their main garrison location). Xinjiang is one of the few military regions in which full divisions are still retained as an organizational level post the 2015 reforms (which reduced most divisions into combined arms brigades).^[2] Due to the very long border it patrols, there are also fifteen border guard regiments assigned as well as the main maneuver force.

Maneuver Force

• 4th Combined Arms Division (Kucha City, Aksu Prefecture)
• 6th Combined Arms Division（Kashgar)^[7]
• 8th Combined Arms Division (Wusu, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture)^[8]
• 11th Combined Arms Division (Urumqi)
• 84th Special Forces Brigade "Kunlun Sharp Blades" (Kashgar)
• 84th Army Aviation Brigade (Changji)
• 84th Artillery Brigade (Urumqi)
• 84th Air Defense Brigade (Urumqi)
• 6th Intelligence and Surveillance Brigade "Golden Falcons" (Urumqi)
• 6th Information Support Brigade (Urumqi)
• 6th Electronic Countermeasures Brigade (Urumqi)
• 4th Motorized Transport Brigade
• 3rd Motorized Transport Regiment
• 1st Communications Regiment (Urumqi)
• 2nd Communications Regiment (Urumqi)
• 2nd Chemical Defense Regiment (Urumqi)
• 9th Combat Engineers Regiment (Urumqi)
• Construction Engineering Regiment (Rutog County, Ngari Prefecture)^[9][10]

Border Guard Units

• 361st Border Guard Regiment (Tsamda County, Ngari Prefecture)
• 362nd Border Guard Regiment (Rutog County, Ngari Prefecture): 362nd and 363rd regiments were the units originally engaged in the 2020 skirmishes.^[11]
• 363rd Border Guard Regiment (Shahidulla, Pishan County, Hotan Prefecture)
• 364th Border Guard Regiment（Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County and Akto County, Kashgar）
• 365th Border Guard Regiment (Wujia County, Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture
• 366th Border Guard Regiment（Uchturpan CountyAksu Prefecture)
• 367th Border Guard Regiment (Zhaosu County, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture)
• 368th Border Guard Regiment (Huiyuan Town, Huocheng County, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture)
• 369th Border Guard Regiment（Bole City, Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture
• 370th Border Guard Regiment (Toli County, Tacheng Prefecture)
• 371st Border Guard Regiment（Emin County, Tacheng Prefecture)
• 372nd Border Guard Regiment (Fuyun County, Altay Prefecture)
• 373rd Border Guard Regiment (Habahe County, Altay Prefecture)
• 374th Border Guard Regiment (Qitai County, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture)
• 375th Border Guard Regiment (Kumul City, Barkol Kazakh Autonomous County)^[10]

The Border Guards cover some of the most challenging terrain in the world, and it is occasionally reported that some units still use horses for patrolling.^[12]

References