“The ground force, navy, air force, rocket force and strategic support force are involved and the relocation plans mainly focus on moving the command units of these five different forces,” one independent source said.

However, the relocation plans will not cover the Central Military Commission, the top policymaking body of the PLA, which will continue to operate from the August 1st Building in western Beijing.

“A small number of the administrative departments [of these five forces] may be allowed to remain in Beijing but most units will move [to new offices],” said the same source, who comes from a PLA family. “It is expected that the relocation may take as long as 10 years to complete.”

One option under consideration is for the naval headquarters to move to a coastal city, according to a retired navy officer who has knowledge of the plans.

“The leadership hopes that a decentralised arrangement will help commanders and officers to better focus on combat training and spend less time on currying favour among colleagues and senior bosses,” said another source close to ground force who wanted to remain anonymous.

“Other considerations were to alleviate pressure on Beijing’s environment and transport and to support the development of second- and third-tier cities,” he added.

According to these sources, the leadership believes that smaller cities will be better suited to hosting the new headquarters, which will also be streamlined as part of the process.

“The five forces will be restructured in the process and some officers in non-combat units are expected to be decommissioned and they will have to be assigned new jobs in the civilian sector or in state-owned enterprises,” one of the sources said.

“The top leaders believe that living costs in second- and third-tier cities will be more affordable for these officers considering how much redundancy compensation they will receive when they are decommissioned.”

However, sources pointed out that the relocation plans already faced resistance from some senior officers who are reluctant to move from the capital city for family reasons.

“For example, some officers’ spouses have jobs in Beijing, while their children go to school there. Beijing has the country’s best education and medical resources, as well as other modern amenities that cannot be matched by what’s available in third-tier cities, ” a 44-year-old retired senior colonel said.

Nevertheless, the sources said the leadership is likely to allow some flexibility in implementing the relocation plans and permit a small number of the families to stay in Beijing.

“Military dependents who want to stay may have to make up the difference [in costs] such as housing,” the source said. “But active officers are expected to follow orders to move as soon as the Central Military Commission announces the decision.”

Macau-based military expert Antony Wong Dong said the relocation plans would likely fuel discontent among some senior officers, who already faced huge pressure because of the changes initiated by Xi.

“Commanders and senior officers of the five forces will have to rebuild their networks [of relationships] if they move and this increases the risks of [promoting] a silo mentality among different units,” Wong said.