Joint Staff Department (China)

The Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission is the operational command organ of the People's Liberation Army, superseding the former PLA General Staff Department. It was established on 11 January 2016, under the military reforms of Central Military Commission chairman Xi Jinping.
Headquartered in Beijing, the Joint Staff Department is under the absolute leadership of the CMC and likely serves as an institutional link between members of the CMC and post-2016 PLA theater commands. According to the JSD, its main duties include carrying out combat support planning and combat command support, studying and formulating military strategy and requirements, organizing combat capability assessment, arranging and instructing joint training; and combat readiness and routine war preparedness work.

Organization

Prior to the 2016 transition, the General Staff Department comprised the following bureaus:

Combat Operations Command
Combat Communications
Intelligence
Mobilization
Electronic Warfare
Foreign Relations
Management

Within the present Joint Staff Department are the following bureaus:

General Office
Guard Bureau
Political Work Bureau
Operations Bureau
Strategic Campaign Training Bureau
Intelligence Bureau
Navigation Bureau
Information and Communications Bureau
Battlefield Environmental Protection Bureau
Military Requirements Bureau

The Intelligence Bureau of the Joint Staff Department, formerly the 2nd Bureau or '2PLA' under the GSD, is the most well-known bureau subordinate to the JSD for its role in espionage.

List of chiefs

Since 2022, the Chief of Joint Staff Department is General Liu Zhenli. The current deputy chiefs are Lieutenant General Xu Qiling, Major General Shao Yuanming and Lieutenant General Cao Qingfeng. Prior to the 2016 rename, department heads were referred to in English as Chief of the General Staff or Chief of the General Staff Department.