PLA Navy gets new commissar

China has appointed the former chief of the general office of the Central Military Commission as the new political commissar of the People's Liberation Army Navy, media reports said.

Lieutenant General Qin Shengxiang appeared on Wednesday in his new role at a ceremony in Qingdao, Shandong province, to send off a Navy flotilla for military exercises with Russia, CCTV reported.

Qin, 60, had been chief of the general office of the commission since December 2012. The commission is the top military ruling body in China, with President Xi Jinping as its chairman.

After the structural reform of the commission was completed in January 2016, Qin also became head of the new Office for Reform and Organizational Structure.

General Miao Hua, the former political commissar of the PLA Navy, was recently named head of the commission's Political Work Department. Lieutenant General Shen Jinlong, the current commander of the Navy, was appointed in January.

Meanwhile, General Song Puxuan became the new head of the commission's Logistics Support Department.

PLA Daily reported that Song was at a meeting discussing logistics reform as head of the department on Wednesday.

Song, 63, was named commander of China's Northern Theater Command in February 2016. He also was the chief commander of the military parade held in Beijing in September 2015.

A series of shuffles of top-ranking PLA officers have taken place since August.

The PLA has promoted several senior officers to top posts. General Li Zuocheng, 63, was named chief of staff at the PLA Joint Staff Department. General Han Weiguo, 61, succeeded Li as commander of the PLA Ground Force. And Lieutenant General Ding Laihang, 59, was appointed head of the PLA Air Force.

cuijia@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 09/14/2017 page4)