The western part of the mainland is vast, and the land area accounts for nearly half of the mainland's land area. At the same time, the border situation in the western region is complicated, and the pressure on counter-terrorism and border disputes is relatively large. In 2016, the Western Theater was officially established, and compared with the previous era of the 7 major military regions, the geographical scope of the Western Theater includes the former Chengdu Military Region (owed to Yunnan and Guizhou) and lanzhou military region (owed to Shaanxi), and the strategic location is extremely critical.
Since the establishment of the Western Theater, it has experienced 4 commanders. The current commander is General Wang Haijiang, who has gone through a number of important post experiences.
I. The first batch of military cadets who took part in border self-defense counterattack operations after the resumption of the college entrance examinations
In 1977, after the national college entrance examination was resumed, Wang Haijiang took the college entrance examination from the local government and entered the military academy. After graduation, he participated in the border self-defense counterattack operation, led officers and men to reconnoiter the forward position many times, and was only a company commander of a certain unit of the Lanzhou Military Region at that time.
On the battlefield, he led officers and men to risk their lives many times to reconnoiter the enemy's forward positions, and was a "fierce" character who made the enemy tremble and trembled, and was awarded the first class of battle merits, and was a rare general with actual combat experience in peacetime.
2. He has served as the commander of two important military districts at the sub-theater level in a row
Wang Haijiang spent almost all of his military career in the former Lanzhou Military Region, and has been stationed in the western part of the motherland.
The military layout in the western part of the continent is different from that in other regions. In particular, Tibet and Xinjiang, as China's western frontiers and also the border of geopolitical security, have always held a special place in China's military map in the face of the threat of extremism and separatist forces in the region. Here, although the Tibet Military Region and the Xinjiang Military Region are military regions at the provincial level, they are not ordinary provincial-level mobilization military regions, but belong to front-line combat units, and these two military regions are directly managed by the army.
At the same time, the specifications of the Tibet Military Region and the Xinjiang Military Region are also higher than those of other provincial-level military regions, and they are sub-theater-level specifications.
In January 2020, Wang Haijiang was promoted from the position of deputy commander of the Tibet Military Region to the commander of the Tibet Military Region, and entered the ranks of deputy theater generals, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general.
On June 15, 2020, as one of the top fighting clubs in China, "Empo Fighting" was awarded the title of "Snow Mastiff Plateau Resistance Team" by Lieutenant General Wang Haijiang, commander of the Tibet Military Region, and 20 members of the club joined the militia of the Tibet Military Region.
In April 2021, according to public reports, Lieutenant General Wang Haijiang went to the Xinjiang Military Region to take up a new post and served as the commander of the Xinjiang Military Region, the second deputy theater-level post.
Compared with the Tibet Military Region, the Xinjiang Military Region has a wider scope of jurisdiction, because it not only covers the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, but also the Ali region of Tibet is also under the jurisdiction of the Xinjiang Military Region. The Galwan River Valley and Pangong Lake that we are familiar with are located within the control area of the Xinjiang Military Region, which is also the western section of the Sino-Indian border, and the border guard pressure is relatively large.
3. After only 21 months as a lieutenant general in the deputy theater, he was promoted to commander of the western theater general who was serving in the main theater
On September 6, 2021, Wang Haijiang was promoted to the rank of general as the commander of the Western Theater.
At that time, this news attracted a lot of attention. Because it has only been less than half a year since Wang Haijiang became the commander of the Xinjiang Military Region. Even if he is promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, it is only about 21 months.
According to the policy of "one post and one rank" after the military reform, as long as the post is promoted, the rank is immediately promoted at the same time, and it is no longer necessary to meet a certain number of years as in the past.
Looking at the resume of General Wang Haijiang, the deputy commander of the Tibet Military Region, who served as a regular military officer at the end of 2016, has gone from a regular military post to a regular theater post in less than 5 years.