Wu Yanan

Wu Yanan (Chinese: 吴亚男; born August 1962) is a general (shangjiang) of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), currently serving as commander of the Southern Theater Command, in office since July 2024. He was commander of the Central Theater Command from January 2022 to January 2023. In January 2023, he was transferred to the Central Military Commission Joint Operations Command Center. He is a representative of the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.

Biography

Wu was born in Fuxin, Liaoning, in August 1962. After graduating from Fuxin High School in 1980, he enlisted in the People's Liberation Army in September of that same year. He joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in September 1984. In July 2013, he was promoted to become deputy commander of the 16th Group Army, and held that office until March 2017, when he was promoted again to become commander of the 78th Group Army. In April 2020, he was commissioned as deputy commander of the Northern Theater Command and commander of its Northern Theater Command Ground Force. In December 2020, he took office as deputy chief of staff of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, concurrently serving as deputy chief of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters [zh]. In January 2022, he rose to become commander of the Central Theater Command, succeeding Lin Xiangyang. In July 2024, he became commander of the Southern Theater Command.

He was promoted to the rank of major general (shaojiang) in July 2014, lieutenant general (zhongjiang) in April 2020 and general (shangjiang) in January 2022.