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

eaks through services’ boundaries. Providing common
use material support is the responsibility of the
joint logistic system. Service-specific material support
is provided through the services’ organic support entities.
43
The 16th Chinese Communist Party Congress further
elaborated on the organizational, rather than operational,
emphasis of Joint Logistics, with initial focus
on providing common supplies and services, stating:
Integrating the logistics supply units of the military
branches into one means to establish a joint services
administrative framework—one in which the logistics
supply units of the three military branches are jointly
structured, the logistics support forces of the three military
branches are used as a whole, and the logistics systems
for the three services are organized in light of the
overall situation in accordance with the requirements
imposed by joint military operations. 44
Chinese Joint Logistics, subsequently, divides its
support between common use material (通用物资)
and special-use/service-specific material (专用物资).
Common use materials may include some types of
ammunition, clothing/uniforms, raw materials (such
as metals; glass; heating fuel; petroleum, oils, and lubricants
[POL]; and cement), electronics/mechanical
material (machinery, industrial ovens, machine tools,
and various electronic components 45 ), food, barracks
material, and common services (financial, medical,
transportation, and barrack engineering services). 46
Special-use/service-specific material (专用物资) remained
those which are used by one service, such as
aircraft tires and ship boiler [steam] engines.
567