Paramilitary forces of China

The People's Armed Police Force^[1][a] is a paramilitary organization of the People's Republic of China^[2]: 121 primarily responsible for internal security, riot control, counter-terrorism, disaster response, law enforcement and maritime rights protection^[3] as well as providing support to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) during wartime.^[4]: 87

The Militia (Chinese: 民兵; pinyin: Mínbīng)^[5] or Militia of China (Chinese: 中国民兵; pinyin: Zhōngguó Mínbīng) is the militia part of the armed forces of China, the other two parts being the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the People's Armed Police (PAP).^[5] The Militia is under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and serves as an auxiliary and reserve force for the PLA.^[6] It is one of the largest militias in the world.

The Reserve Force of the People's Liberation Army is the military reserve force of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). It is composed of a trained force of (mostly retired veteran) civilians that retain an inactive military status, and are subject to fast mobilization.^[7] in case of wartime or other crises, at which time they are transferred to active duty and their units activated into full service.

The reserve forces are organized as full units with a small number of active servicemen as an organizational skeleton, plus a larger body of reserve officers and soldiers in call-up ready state. Reserve units follow the unified organization of the PLA and are entered into the official PLA TOEs and order of battle. The PLA reserve forces are directly under the leadership of the Central Military Commission (CMC).^[8] The National Defense Mobilization Department of the CMC manages the recruitment, unit assignment and mobilization structures.

The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (新疆生产建设兵团; abbreviated as 新疆兵团 or XJBT^[9]), also known as Bingtuan, trading with the external name China Xinjian Group,^[10] is a state-owned enterprise and paramilitary organization in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The XJBT was established in 1954 under the orders of Mao Zedong, and developed sparsely populated areas in its early decades, taking the model of the traditional tuntian system of setting military units in frontier areas. The XJBT was severely damaged during the Cultural Revolution, and was outright abolished in 1975, before being re-established in 1981, partly due to the Soviet-Afghan War. It re-established its economic dominance over Xinjiang afterwards, also being responsible for maintenance against the "three evils" (separatism, religious extremism, and terrorism). In its history, the XJBT has built farms, towns, and cities, provided land and employment to disbanded military units, and re-settled Han migrants from other parts of China in what has been called a campaign of assimilation.