People’s Liberation Army Reforms: Implications for Xi’s Leadership**
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61462/cujss.v50i1.716Keywords:
People’s Liberation Army reforms, Chinese politics, Xi JinpingAbstract
This paper argues that the People’s Liberation Army reform under Xi Jinping contributes to the new power concentration of Chinese leadership, which is significantly related to the elimination of the Chinese presidential term limits in March 2018. The paper points out that 1) the president’s position has become important in Chinese politics only since the late Deng Xiaoping’s era with the attempt to institutionalize Chinese leadership; 2) there were serious problems in the relations between Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) especially during Jiang Zemin’s and Hu Jintao’s era, which damaged Mao’s principle of “party commands guns”; and 3) Xi’s PLA reforms, which consist of military administrative reform, military policies reform, and the integration of the military and civilian sectors, have vital implications for his supreme leadership as well as the institutionalization of leadership in China.
Downloads
References
Center for Strategic and International Studies. 2017. “Xi’s Signature Governance Innovation: The Rise of Leading Small Groups.” Accessed December 15, 2018. https://www.csis.org/ analysis/xis-signature-governance-innovation-rise-leading-small-groups.
Chan, Minnie. 2016. “Bringing an End to PLA Inc.” South China Morning Post, April 14. Accessed January 10, 2019. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1935958/bringing-end-pla-inc.
China Internet Information Center. 2014. "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform." Accessed October 2017. http://www.china.org.cn/china/third_plenary_session/2014-01/16/content_31212602.htm.
Fisher, Richard D. 2010. China’s Military Modernization: Building for Regional and Global Reach. California: Stanford University Press.
Kania, Elsa B. 2016. “The PLA’s Latest Strategic Thinking on the Three Warfares.” China Brief 16(13).
Li, Cheng. 2016. Chinese Politics in the Xi Jinping Era: Reassessing Collective Leadership. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
Mai, Jun. 2016. “Chinese Military Ends Era of Providing Paid Services to Concentrate on Soldiering.” South China Morning Post, March 27. Accessed January 10, 2019.https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1931207/chinese-military-ends-era-providing-paid-services.
Mao Tse-Tung. 1965. “Problems of War and Strategy.” In Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung, volume 2. Peking: Foreign Languages Press. Accessed January 4, 2019. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-2/mswv2_12.htm.
McCauley, Kelvin. 2018. “China’s Military Reforms and Modernization: Implications for the United States.” Accessed January 4, 2019. http://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/ McCauley_Written%20Testimony.pdf.
Miller, Alice L. 2008. “The CCP Central Committee’s Leading Small Groups.” China Leadership Monitor 26.
National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China. 2018. “Full Text: Report on China's Central, Local Budgets (2017).” Accessed January 10, 2019. http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/c36099/201803/93e834a52ebe43f0a1381de42c73380d.shtml.
Pridi Bunsue. 2018. “Xi Jinping Kap Tamnaeng Phunam Talot Chip Chin Cha Lut Chak ‘Kapdak Chuang Plian Phan’ Dai Rue Mai.” [XI Jinping and the Position of Lifelong Leader: Could China Overcome “the Transitional Trap”?]. ThaiPublica, March 13. Accessed January 20, 2019. https://thaipublica.org/2018/03/pridi90. (in Thai)
Tiezzi, Shannon. 2015. “The Real Reason China Is Cutting 300,000 Troops.” The Diplomat, September 8. Accessed January 10, 2019. http://thediplomat.com/2015/09/the-real-reason-china-is-cutting-300000-troops.
Times Internet. 2018. “China Cuts 3 Lakh Troops, Shrinks PLA to 2 Million.” Times of India, March 6. Accessed January 4, 2019. http://www.timesofindia.com/world/china/china-cuts-3-lakh-troops-shrink-pla-to-2-million/articleshow/63174429.cms.
Vorasakdi Mahathanobol. 2013. Jin Pan Din Ti 5. [China’s Fifth Regime]. Bangkok: Openbooks. (in Thai)
Wuthnow, Joel, and Phillip C. Saunders. 2017. Chinese Military Reforms in the Age of Xi Jinping: Drivers, Challenges, and Implications. China Strategic Perspectives, No. 10. Washington, DC: National Defense University Press.
Yao, Jianing, ed. 2015. “Defense Ministry Holds Press Conference on V-Day Parade, Cut of Troops’ Number.” Accessed January 6, 2019. http://eng.mod.gov.cn/DefenseNews/2015-09/03/content_4617101.htm.
You, Ji. 2016. China’s Military Transformation. China Today. Cambridge: Polity Press.
-----. 2018. “Xi Jinping and PLA Transformation through Reforms.” RSIS Working Paper, no.313. Accessed January 5, 2019. https://www.rsis.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/WP313. pdf.
Zhao, Lei. 2017. “PLA to Be World-Class Force by 2050.” China Daily, October 27. Accessed January 10, 2019. www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-10/27/content_33756453.htm.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2020 Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Public Licensing Terms
Copyright and Licensing Policy
The Chulalongkorn University Journal of Social Science publishes all content under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
Copyright
All published articles in the Chulalongkorn University Journal of Social Science are the copyright of the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University. Authors transfer all rights to the journal upon acceptance of their manuscript for publication.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License
Under this license:
-
Attribution (BY): Users must give appropriate credit to the authors, the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, and the Chulalongkorn University Journal of Social Science, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. They may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses them or their use.
-
NonCommercial (NC): Users may not use the material for commercial purposes. Commercial use requires prior written permission from both the authors and the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University.
-
NoDerivatives (ND): If users remix, transform, or build upon the material, they may not distribute the modified material. Adaptations of the work require prior written permission from both the authors and the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University.
Open Access Statement
The Chulalongkorn University Journal of Social Science provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author, in accordance with the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
Self-Archiving Policy
Authors may archive the final published version, preprints, or postprints of their articles in institutional repositories or on their personal websites, provided that they acknowledge the original publication in the Chulalongkorn University Journal of Social Science with a complete citation and a link to the journal's website.
Permissions
For any use beyond those covered by the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, please contact:
Editorial Office
Chulalongkorn University Journal of Social Science
Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University
Email: cusocscij@gmail.com
For more information about the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, please visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
