Western Theater Command

The Western Theater Command is one of the five theater commands of the People's Liberation Army, founded on 1 February 2016.

Its jurisdiction includes Sichuan, Tibet, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang,  Shaanxi, Yunnan, Chongqing. Guizhou is also sometimes listed as part of the command. Its current commander since August 2021 is General Wang Haijiang. Its current political commissar is General Li Fengbiao.

In May 2016, the PRC raised the rank and status of its western Tibet Military Command to widen its scope for missions and combat preparedness, in a move analysts in Beijing said was aimed in part at fortifying the border with India. The Xinjiang Military Command may also be elevated in the future, the report said. Both commands are under the newly created Western Theater Command, the largest of five newly reorganised military regions of the PLA. The Chinese Communist Party-run tabloid Global Times reported the change would allow the command “to shoulder more combat assignments”.

Area of Responsibility (AOR)
Western Theater Command's Area of Responsibility (AOR) consists of India, South Asia, Central Asia, Western Mongolia, Pakistan and Afghanistan

Organizational structure
The Western Theater Command consists of the following components:


 * Western Theater Command Ground Force
 * Western Theater Command Air Force
 * 33rd Fighter Division
 * 44th Fighter Division
 * 6th Fighter Division
 * 36th Bomber Division
 * 37th Fighter Division
 * 4th Transport Division

Official hymn
Released on 4 November 2020, the Western Theater Command released "The Battle Hymn of the Western Theater Command" with lyrics written by the then commander of the Western Theater Command, General Zhao Zongqi and music composed by Luan Kai.

Context
In the context of China–India relations, the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is the border between India and China which has led to ongoing Sino-Indian border dispute. The China's Western Theater Command is focused on its border with India and the western and northwestern neighbors such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia. China has numerous territorial disputes with several of these neighbors.

Counter-deployment by India
Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Indian Military patrol Indian border, which consists of East, Central and Western Command on LAC of India. Both India and China have developed India-China border infrastructure, including the India-China Border Roads (ICBR) by India.

Indian Military has divided the LAC into 3 sectors - the northern sector (some times also called western sector) across Ladakh and the Chinese-held Aksai Chin, the central sector across Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand states, and the eastern sector across Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh states. India has the Patrol Points (PP) on the border with Chinese, some of which are disputed by China. There are Indian air bases and advanced landing grounds (ALG) along China border.

There are designated Border Personnel Meeting Point, mutually agreed by India and China, for conducting meetings to resolve the dispute.