Xu Zhongbo, political commissar of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force, has been promoted to the rank of general, the highest rank for officers in active service in China. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), presented Xu with a certificate of order at a ceremony held by the CMC in Beijing on Wednesday. 

Born in 1960, Xu was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in July 2017. He became the first political commissar of the Army of the Western Theater Command in early 2016 and the political commissar of the Joint Logistic Support Force in 2018 before a recent transfer to the Rocket Force. 

Xi also signed an order to award citations of merit to three military units and five individuals recently. 

The PLA Guard of Honor, Chinese naval hospital ship Peace Ark and an institute under the Academy of Military Sciences were honored with first-class citations of merit. 

Professor Shan Dongsheng with the Army Academy of Armored Forces, Professor Wan Mingjie with the Army Academy of Artillery and Air Defense and Professor Da Lianglong with the Naval Submarine Academy were awarded second-class citations of merit. 
  
Senior Engineer Tan Keke of Troop 96911 and Senior Engineer Hu Xiaofeng with the National Defense University were honored with third-class citations of merit. 

The promotion and awarding took place ahead of China's Army Day, which falls on August 1. 

Last week Xi inspected China's Aviation University of Air Force in Changchun in the northeastern province of Jilin. He extended greetings to the personnel of the PLA, the Armed Police Force, the militia and the reserve force ahead of Army Day.

(With input from Xinhua)