The PLA at Home and Abroad - Strategic Studies Institute - U.S. Army

fundamental impediment to fostering interoperability.
Without a joint organization, it has been difficult to
develop the technologies to connect the organizations
or to train the personnel in joint operations. 65
The PLA has made some progress in establishing
joint organizations, however. For example, since 2004
each service has been represented at the CMC, but it
appears that little effort has been made to go beyond
this level of jointness. Only ground force officers have
become vice chairmen of the CMC or held the position
of Chief of the General Staff. Only one nonground
force officer has held the rank head of the General Political
Department, General Logistics Department, or
the General Armament Department. Li Jinai, current
head of the GPD, spent much of his career in the Second
Artillery.
Moreover, jointness is limited at the staff officer
levels of the four General Departments. For example,
at the deputy commander level, the General Staff, Political,
and Logistics Departments are each staffed by
three ground force officers and one Air Force officer.
The staffing of the General Armament Department at
the deputy commander level is more nuanced with
representation coming from career armament department
officers who have served in nonservice specific
positions working in the ground, aviation, missile,
and space fields. No Navy or Second Artillery officer
holds the position of deputy director for any of the
four General Departments, and below the deputy director
level, jointness appears to be less prevalent.
The PLA also lacks a permanent joint organization
at the MR level. Indeed, in a run-up to a war, the MR
must transition to a joint warfighting organization
called the war zone. The lack of jointness at the MR
level is reflected in the fact that only ground force of-
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