BEIJING: China has brought its frontier troops, including those guardingits border with India, directly under the military command removingcivilian control over them, a state-run daily reported on Thursday.

Communist Party of China (CPC), headed by President Xi Jinping, announcedthe complete withdrawal of civilian-oriented frontier defence troops fromthe People’s Armed Police (PAP) to enhance the ruling party’s management ofthe country’s armed forces, Global Times reported.

Troops that were formerly part of the armed police and managed byinstitutes of the State Council have now officially withdrawn from thissystem in a bid to fully implement the party’s absolute leadership over thePeople’s Liberation Army, and other national armed forces, the daily saidquoting an article published by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army(PLA)’s official WeChat public account on Wednesday.

The withdrawal of armed police force units engaged in civilian affairswould disentangle the previous complicated chain of command, Chinesemilitary analysts said. This will also mean that the border troopsincluding those posted along the 3,488-km long Line of Actual Control (LAC)would be brought directly under the PLA which functions under CentralMilitary Commission (CMC) headed by Xi.

Xi was re-elected last week for the second five-year term as the presidentand the chairman of the CMC by China’s rubber stamp parliament NationalPeople’s Congress (NPC), days after it removed the two-term limit forpresident, paving the way for his continuation in power perhaps for life.

Xi heads the CPC, the military besides the presidency, making him the mostpowerful leader after party founder Mao Zedong.

Last December, the CPC removed the civilian control over PAP all over thecountry and brought it directly under the control of the CMC headed by Xi.The 1.5 million-strong paramilitary police force previously was under adual command structure of the CMC and the State Council or cabinet throughthe Ministry of Public Security.

It served as a backup for the military in times of war and domestically hasa role in putting down protests and counterterrorism as well as borderdefence and firefighting, the Hong Kong based South China Morning Postreported earlier.

The latest orders included integrating China’s Coast Guard whose shipsoften sail close to the disputed islands with Japan in the East China Sea,into the CMC chain of command. The Coast Guard earlier functioned under theleadership of State Oceanic Administration and it now start to serve theirduties as armed police forces.