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

that the primary responsibility for maintaining or restoring
public order resides with the police and the
PAP: “where necessary, the State Council may propose
to the Central Military Commission (CMC) for decision
that the People's Liberation Army be dispatched
for assisting to enforce the martial law.” 16 The PAP is
specifically designed for response to internal security
problems. Organized in 1983 and reorganized in 1995,
the PAP is reported to have had around 700,000 troops
as of 2008. 17 The PAP has a wide range of responsibilities,
most of which (such as guarding government
buildings, foreign embassies, television and radio stations,
important transportation hubs, border security,
and firefighting, among others) are beyond the scope
of this chapter. What concerns us here is the PAP’s
role in emergency response and in suppressing social
unrest. The PAP has 14 mobile divisions. They come
directly under the command of the CMC and can be
deployed anywhere in the country and function as the
front-line troops in handling serious social unrest. 18
LESSONS LEARNED: DISASTER RESPONSE
AND HUMANITARIAN AID
By 2008, China had constructed an emergency response
system designed to facilitate and coordinate
response to natural disasters and other emergencies.
In that year, those plans were put to the test by two
major natural disasters: the snow and ice storms of
January-February and the Wenchuan earthquake
of May. How did China’s military respond to these
emergencies, and what lessons did they derive from
their experience?
China was hit by unusually cold weather and severe
winter storms from mid-January through Febru-
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