China is modernizing its military one step at a time, and the focus of the new year appears to be organizational reform and restructuring. An announcement from the Chinese military on Jan. 11 heralded the new configuration of its general staff system. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has created a joint staff directly attached to the Central Military Commission (CMC), the highest leadership organization in the military. Chinese President Xi Jinping said the changes are "basically completed" and took a group photo with the 15 senior officers who will lead the new staff departments under the CMC. This suggests that while it may not be entirely functional yet, there has been considerable progress toward getting the revised structure in place.