The Lanzhou Military Region is one of seven military regions in the People's Republic of China. It directs all military and armed police forces in Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, and Shaanxi. The Ali area of northwest Tibet also falls under this Region. It is headquartered in Lanzhou in Gansu Province. It is bordered to the south by the Chengdu Military Region, and to the north by Mongolia, the Altai Republic, which is a political subdivision of the Russian Federation, and Kazakhstan.
In 2006 the International Institute for Strategic Studies attributes the Region with an estimated 220,000 personnel, a single armoured division, two motorised infantry divisions, one artillery division, one armoured, two motorised infantry, one artillery, one anti-aircraft brigades plus a single anti-tank regiment. However, due to on-going reorganisation and reductions virtually all figures for numbers of Chinese military formations should be taken as indicative only.
The Region includes two Group Armies (the 21st at Baoji and the 47th at Lintong) plus two Armed Police Units (the 7th and 63rd). Known smaller formations include the 12th Armoured Division ('84701 Unit') at Jiuquan, Gansu. The region also includes the Xinjiang Military District, unusual among PRC military districts in that it contains a significant number of combat troops (the 4th Infantry Division, 6th Infantry Division, 8th Infantry Division, and, apparently, the 11th Highland Motorised Infantry Division reportedly either at Urumqi or in the Karakoram Mountains (Blasko 2000).
Read more about Lanzhou Military Region: Current Officers, Tentative Order of Battle, Lanzhou Military Region Air Force
Famous quotes containing the words military and/or region:
“The domestic career is no more natural to all women than the military career is natural to all men.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.”
—Bible: New Testament, Luke 2:8,9.