People's Armed Police

From Free net encyclopedia

The People's Armed Police Force (人民武装警察部队; renmin wuzhuang jingcha budui) is a paramilitary police force primarily responsible for domestic security within the People's Republic of China.

In contrast to public security officers, PAP guards wear olive green instead of the dark gray or blue uniforms of the People's Police. An individual policeman in the PAP was called an armed policeman (武警) until January 1, 2005. Now, the position has been renamed 'internal guard' (內衛); New arm patches reflect this change.

1 History
2 Mission
3 Organization
4 See also
5 External links
6 References

[edit]

History

Intended to remove domestic security functions from the People's Liberation Army, the PAP was created in April 1983 by an amalgamation of the PLA's border control and internal security units, as well as from Ministry of Public Security units.

[edit]

Mission

The PAP's primary mission is internal security. Such units guard government buildings at all levels (including party and state organisations, foreign embassies and consulates), provide personal protection to senior government officials, provide security functions to public corporations and major public events. Some units perform guard duty in civilian prisons and provide executioners for the state. The PAP also maintains a tactical counter-terrorism (CT) unit in the Immediate Action Unit (IAU).

PAP border security forces (bianfang budui) guard China's land and sea borders, as well as its ports and airports. Other units guard China's forests, gold mines and hydropower facilities, as well as provide fire-fighting and road construction functions.

The secondary mission of the PAP is external defence, and in times of war PAP internal security units can act as light infantry supporting the PLA in local defence missions.

[edit]

Organization

The PAP has a dual command structure including the Central Military Commission (CMC) and the State Council through the Ministry of Public Security. By law however, the PAP is not part of the PLA.

The PAP is estimated to have a total strength of 1.5 million, with over half its strength (800,000) employed in its internal security units (neiwei budui). Such units are organised in division-sized elements (zongdui, or 'contingents') and are located in each province, autonomous region and centrally-controlled city. Some provinces have more than one internal security zongdui due to the transferal of 14 PLA Divisions (numbering 500,000 personnel) to the PAP during the late 1990s. Additionally, the PAP maintains a national headquarters in Beijing.

Although their uniforms (olive green) and insignia are different to those of the PLA, PAP guards wear military-style uniforms and insignia that often leads to them being mistaken for soldiers. Furthermore, due to its history with the PLA and paramilitary organisation, the PAP has a similar rank structure to the PLA and also obeys its general regulations. PAP guards are also conscripted at the same time and through the same procedures as PLA soldiers. However, the PAP has its own education and training system separate from the PLA.

[edit]