“General Ma is unusually outspoken,” said Chas W. Freeman Jr., former assistant secretary of defense, who has met with Chinese military figures. “He does not yield easily to those with whom he disagrees, though he is willing to do so if an argument of sufficient logical force is presented. He is self-confident enough to really enjoy the rough-and-tumble of policy argument.”

In May, General Ma told a TV station based in Hong Kong that the South China Sea, where China is making increasing territorial claims, was “none of the United States’ business.” The Chinese Air Force is now “seeking to create the kind of air power that can rival the U.S., and to create similar stealth, precision strike and long-range strike capabilities,” said Anthony H. Cordesman, the senior military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “It is developing similar enablers in terms of refueling, electronic warfare systems, airborne command and control, and satellites.” Earlier this year, General Ma accompanied China’s defense minister, Liang Guanglie, on a visit to Washington.

Gen. Zhang Youxia, who has publicly criticized the military for its lack of combat experience, was promoted to be director of the General Armament Department, which oversees procurement and research.

General Zhang, one of the few senior commanders who does have battlefield experience, is said by Chinese military scholars to have been wounded during China’s 1979 conflict with Vietnam. In 2009, he was quoted in People’s Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece, as saying: “The fires of war are burning throughout the world. In this area, the gap between the Chinese military and foreign militaries is growing by the day. This is a real problem.” Before his promotion, he was commander of the Shenyang Military Region.

The commander of the Beijing Military Region, Gen. Fang Fenghui, was promoted on Thursday to chief of the general staff, the Defense Ministry said. The former political commissar of the Guangzhou Military Region, Zhang Yang, was named director of the political department, and the former commander of the Nanjing Military Region, Gen. Zhao Keshi, was promoted to lead the logistics department.

The new commission will almost certainly be overseeing China’s development of cyberwarfare, an area that China views as particularly advantageous, and relatively inexpensive, said Kevin Pollpeter, China Project Manager for Defense Group Inc., a firm based in Washington that specializes in China’s national security issues. “Cyber allows China projection ability it can’t get with other weapons,” Mr. Pollpeter said at a recent conference in Washington on China’s military.

So far, the Defense Ministry has not announced who will command the all-important Second Artillery Corps, home to the land-based ballistic and cruise missile units opposite Taiwan. Also yet to be announced is the new commander of the navy, another rapidly expanding branch of the military. The commanders of the Second Artillery Corps and the navy sit on the Central Military Commission.

Two other posts — the commission’s vice chairmen — also remain to be announced. These positions are filled by senior generals who run the day-to-day operations of the military under the civilian party leadership.