7th Armed Police Mobile Division

3rd Army Division (1969) 7th Army Division (1969–85) 7th Infantry Division (1985–96) 7th Armed Police Mobile Division(1996-)
Active	1969.5 -
Country	People's Republic of China
Branch	People's Liberation Army, People's Armed Police
Type	Division
Role	Armed Police
Part of	Xinjiang Military District
Garrison/HQ	Ili, Xinjiang
Engagements	Xinjiang conflict

The 3rd Army Division (Chinese: 陆军第3师)(2nd Formation) was created on May 1969 from Beijing and Shenyang Military Region and soon sent to Xinjiang under the direct control of Xinjiang Military Region. In December 1969 the division was renamed as 7th Army Division, while former 7th Army Division renamed as new 3rd Army Division.

The re-formation and re-designation of several army divisions in Xinjiang showed apparent evidence that there might be plans to re-activate 2nd Army Corps and 3rd Army Corps, even 4th Army Corps of the PLA. For unknown reasons these corps were not formed at last.

By then the division was composed of:

• 19th Regiment;
• 20th Regiment;
• 21st Regiment;
• Artillery Regiment.

In 1985 the division was renamed as 7th Infantry Division(Chinese: 步兵第7师), becoming a Northern Infantry Division, Catalogue B unit.

In 1996 the division was transferred to CAPF and renamed as 7th Armed Police Mobile Division(Chinese: 武警机动第7师).

The Artillery Regiment, 7th Infantry Division was re-organized and renamed as 706th Regiment, 7th Armed Police Mobile Division. All artillery battalions in infantry regiments were also re-organized as the 4th mobile battalion of the regiments. Now the division is composed of:

• 19th Regiment;
• 20th Regiment;
• 21st Regiment;
• 706th Regiment.

The division is stationed in Ili, Xinjiang for anti-terrorist and anti-separatist missions.

References

• 中国人民解放军各步兵师沿革，http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_a3f74a990101cp1q.html