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

such training has been done on a temporary and ad
hoc basis with limited long-term results. In addition,
because there is no permanent joint training structure,
the services do not have a mechanism to discuss how
joint training should be conducted or evaluated. Consequently,
the PLA still lacks clear and sufficient regulations
and standards regarding joint training. 70
The main attempt to establish an organization for
joint training has been the formation of “coordination
zones” in 2003. A training coordination zone is described
as:
A place where units of various arms and services having
similar future combat missions are relatively concentrated,
and where a zone of mutually coordinated
military training is set up. This is aimed at effective integration
and sharing of training resources, so that units
of the various arms and services can rely on the coordination
zone to accomplish integrated, joint training, and
exercises. 71
The designation of these training areas as “coordination
zones,” however, belies the PLA’s propensity for
coordinated operations rather than true interoperability.
Indeed, PLA sources lament that training in coordination
zones is characterized by “communication”
plus “consultation” instead of true jointness. 72
Despite structural impediments, the PLA has made
some progress in joint training. For example, one article
notes that a motorized infantry division now has
an Air Force ground controller attached to it. 73 But the
joint training praised in PLA publications is often rudimentary
or superficial. For example, one report stated
that ground force and Navy units in a training coordination
zone practiced ship loading and unloading
and ground force units practiced loading aircraft onto
213