Op Sindoor Forces To China To Revise Manual For Military Zones

On May 9-10, when Indian forces struck 11 Pakistani air bases and destroyed around a dozen air assets, Beijing immediately formed a committee under the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the Chinese Communist Party. The panel was tasked with studying all Pakistani defence installations targeted during Operation Sindoor and revising China’s security protocols to protect its own military infrastructure.

Within 15 days of Operation Sindoor, the committee completed all necessary upgrades to China’s existing security manuals, ensuring enhanced protection for military and ancillary facilities. The updated guidelines were circulated to all relevant military divisions by June 30, and formally implemented on September 15.

This newspaper has obtained a translated copy of the new Chinese manual. Lt. Gen. Zhang Hongbin, Commander of the PLA Air Force’s Chengdu base, has been assigned to oversee its timely implementation on a war footing.

The revised PLA manual was initially rolled out across establishments under the Western Theatre Command (WTC), which covers the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India. The Indian frontier, seen as a strategic priority over Taiwan or the South China Sea, has been designated as the first area of implementation.

Under the new framework, PLA assets are classified into four categories, cantonments, ammunition depots, logistics infrastructure, and defence industrial supply zones. Dual-use facilities have now been reclassified as military installations, bringing them under stricter access and monitoring protocols.

Previously, only cantonments were covered by the manual. Now, any breach of security around protected sites will result in the suspect facing “double execution” as per the new disciplinary provisions.

Beijing’s move comes soon after Indian precision strikes on Pakistani military targets, which relied on accurate GPS coordinates. By tightening access and masking coordinates of sensitive locations, China aims to counter both human and technical intelligence gathering around its key defence sites.

The decision also follows reports that several Chinese-origin military assets, including fighter jets, missile defence systems, radars, and missile platforms, were precisely targeted during India’s Operation Sindoor. The campaign saw Indian indigenous technologies such as directed-energy weapons, advanced radar systems, and missile shields perform effectively in live combat.

The CMC committee’s review noted that many Pakistani assets destroyed during the four-day conflict included Chinese and American-origin equipment. It concluded that precision missile strikes are only possible when adversaries possess accurate GPS coordinates of targets, underscoring the need to strengthen site protection and limit coordinate exposure.

The committee’s findings were codified into the new Chinese document titled “Regulations on the Protection of Important Military Industrial Facilities.” The preamble states: “In order to protect the security of important military industrial facilities, ensure their operational effectiveness, safeguard the normal conduct of activities such as military scientific research, production, testing, and storage, and strengthen the modernisation of national defence, these Regulations are formulated in accordance with the National Defense Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Military Installations, and other laws.”

It defines “important military industrial facilities” as those directly involved in weapons and equipment research, production, testing, and storage by defence enterprises and institutions. These include research and development centres, production and maintenance sites, testing and trial ranges, finished-product and hazardous material warehouses, communication hubs, observation and navigation stations, and data centres.

The regulations also extend to dedicated ports, wharves, airports, railway lines, and highways used for defence logistics.