State Capacity Building in Contemporary China by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789811388989
Publisher: Springer Singapore

4.5 An Evolving Pattern of Managing the PLA

This article investigated the civil-military relations in China after 1989, in a context characterized by the efforts made by the CCP to enhance the state capacity in order to stabilize its governance. The relation between the CCP and PLA was considered one of the contextual factors that can strengthen or weaken the CCP’s endeavors to use the state capacity for political ends. In analyzing how the CCP attempts to balance the need for a strong military with the need to maintain its authority over the PLA, this paper focused on three aspects, which can create potential disagreements between the political and military actors, specifically the military’s roles, development and autonomy.

In regard to the roles of the PLA, the CCP has shown receptiveness to the military’s dissatisfaction concerning its involvement in the economic and repressive roles. Through the disengagement of the PLA from the economic role and the development of the PAP as a main structure in charge of social stability, on one hand, the CCP has proved its ability to accommodate the expectations of the PLA over the roles that it should or should not play at the domestic level. On the other hand, it has sought to alleviate a growing leverage of the PLA over the Party. Such leverage could be facilitated by the PLA’s financial self-reliance and by an excessive dependence of the CCP on the military for domestic repression. Nevertheless, the CCP has obtained the PLA’s support for a political agenda that implies two other social roles. For the Party, these social roles of the military held a relatively high significance as they contribute toward rebuilding the national unity and increasing the CCP’s legitimacy. By pursuing its role of nation building, the PLA acts as a unifying force in promoting uniformity between the social classes and ethnic groups and therefore contributing to national unity. The ability of the CCP to mobilize the military in time of crises for disaster relief and the ability of the PLA to provide effective outcomes in these situations are aspects that indirectly enhance the Party’s legitimacy in front of domestic audiences. Thus, the CCP has actually supported the engagement of the PLA in roles which can have a stabilizing effect on its governance.

In regard to military development, the Party has proven its capacity to meet the specific needs of the PLA for modernization and professionalization. Through successive policy measures and institutional readjustments, the Party has created a framework for civil-military integration with effective outcomes for the PLA. This framework facilitated the concrete inclusion of the needs of the PLA in a wider framework of national goals. The main aim of this approach was to reduce the costs of military development by allowing the PLA to benefit from the resources that the private sector possesses, such as advanced technologies, and research and development capabilities. By promoting such integration , the CCP seeks to ensure that the PLA’s need for modernization can be fulfilled more efficiently at

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