Explainer | What is China’s Joint Operations Command Centre and who’s in charge?

China’s centralised military headquarters sits at the top of the PLA’s combat chain of command
The JOCC puts Xi Jinping and his top military decision-making team in supreme command of China’s combat operations

China’s military

Liu Zhenin Beijing

Published: 7:00pm, 22 Nov 2022

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Earlier this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also the chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), told the country’s armed forces to be ready for war.

Xi made the remarks during an inspection of the CMC’s Joint Operations Command Centre (JOCC) on November 8 – his first visit to the base since the Communist Party’s national congress last month, when he secured a third term as head of the party and the restructured CMC.

During the inspection, he reaffirmed the importance of the JOCC in the Chinese military.

What is the Joint Operations Command Centre?

The JOCC is the highest level headquarters through which the president and his top military decision-making team exercise command of the Chinese military’s combat operations.

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The JOCC sits at the top of the PLA’s chain of command. Below it are the joint operational commands of China’s five military theatres, and then the units under each theatre.

This framework was established in 2016 under Xi’s structural reform of the military to “better centralise the supreme leadership and command of the military in the CMC”.

As the nerve centre of the military, the JOCC is also headed by Xi. All other members of the CMC are also members of the JOCC.

What does the JOCC look like?

The exact location of the JOCC is classified, but it is said to be situated in a reinforced underground complex on the west side Beijing.

In 2017, state broadcaster CCTV aired video that showed some of the centre’s interior, including a two-storey main hall that featured a massive video screen dozens of metres wide that displayed various information and video links.

The room was also furnished with a podium, a wall covered in world maps, and a special seating area for the commander-in-chief.

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On either side of the commander-in-chief, there were two rows of seats for other CMC members and top PLA officers. Behind them were various staff workstations.

How has Xi’s role evolved with the agency?

The JOCC was a product of Xi’s structural reforms of the military. In 2015, he proposed the establishment of “joint operations command organs for military theatres” and an improved command structure.

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The public got its first glimpse of the JOCC in April 2016, when Xi was shown inspecting the facility in his new capacity as commander-in-chief of the JOCC.

In November, 2017, a week after the start of his second term as leader of the party and the military leader, Xi inspected the office once again, along with the entire CMC team.

During this visit, dressed in a camouflage uniform, Xi checked in via video calls with PLA frontline outposts, including an overseas base in Djibouti.

Chinese President Xi Jinping inspects the CMC Joint Operations Command Centre earlier this month. Photo: Xinhua

What was the PLA’s joint operations command like before JOCC?

Before the JOCC, there was the Joint Operations Command Bureau, which had functioned as a second-tier branch under the former General Staff Department, one of the PLA’s powerful “Four General Departments”.

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The Joint Operations Command Bureau functioned in parallel with others, like the naval and air force bureaus, all of which were staffed with middle ranking military officers.

Under the 2016 overhaul, the PLA’s operational command system was redesigned so that the JOCC would assume strategic command authority.

The Joint Operations Command Bureau continues to operate in a support capacity under the new Joint Staff Department.