The Region is mainly responsible for defending the People's Republic of China from Mongolia and Russia, and also protects the capital of China, and had the largest number of military personnel of any of the seven regions active from 1985 to 2017.

On 26 October 1988 the 17th Air Division was reorganized into the Beijing MR Training Base (serials 6xx2x).

The command is also home to the PLA Navy (PLAN) North Sea Fleet.

The Beijing Military Region is primarily charged with protecting the capital.

The organizational structure as of 2016 was as follows:[7] Organizations affiliated with the Beijing Military Region often used the nickname "comrade" (Chinese: 战友; pinyin: zhànyǒu; lit.