Civil Military Change In China Elites Institutes And Ideas After The 16th Party Congress

In November 2002, the Chinese Communist Party held its 16th Congress and formally initiated a sweeping turnover of senior leaders in both the Party and the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The meeting heralded not merely a new set of personalities in positions of political and military power, but also the emergence of a new generation of leaders. Who are these individuals, and what does their rise mean for the future of China and its military? China matters to the United States because of its size, its spectacular patterns of growth, its profound problems linked to rapid growth, and its military intentions. Facts and trends are examined to explain the divisions and cohesions in the Chinese leadership and their potential significance to the United States and the rest of the world. Also examined is how Chinese policies have evolved over the years, and how important the United States has been in influencing China's strategy. What, for instance, will the emerging leadership with its factious differences do about Taiwan and North Korea?

In November 2002, the Chinese Communist Party held its 16th Congress and formally initiated a sweeping turnover of senior leaders in both the Party and the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The meeting heralded not merely a new set of personalities in positions of political and military power, but also the emergence of a new generation of leaders. Who are these individuals, and what does their rise mean for the future of China and its military? The group of China specialists who have written this book have applied their research talents, intelligence, and hands-on experience to clarify and explain the most important issues of the day in China. China obviously matters to the United States because of its size, its spectacular patterns of growth, its profound problems linked to rapid growth, and its military intentions. These specialists have avoided the diseases of bias, demagoguery, predispositions, and showmanship, which infect so many of the analyses of China. Rather, they have examined the facts and the trends to explain the divisions and cohesions in the Chinese leadership and their potential significance to the United States and the rest of the world. These annual conferences have a long continuity stretching back to the early 1990s. Hence, there is a common database for the books produced each year. The writers revisit major problems in China's development, particularly in the military sphere. They also examine how Chinese policies have evolved over the years, and how important the United States has been in influencing China's strategy. What, for instance, will the emerging leadership with its factious differences do about Taiwan and North Korea? The conference took place at the Carlisle Barracks in September 19- 21, 2003, and was sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the Army War College. The exchanges were frank, the atmosphere was filled with camaraderie and tension.

Over 50 experts in the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) gathered at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, from September 19-21, to attend the 2003 PLA Conference. Cosponsored by the U.S. Army War College, the Heritage Foundation, and the American Enterprise Institute, the conference was titled "After the 16th Party Congress: The Civil and the Military." The closing of the 16th Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and subsequent personnel appointments saw great change in the civil and military leadership of the PLA. Former President Jiang Zemin relinquished all of the Party and State offices he held within the Chinese Government, save one. He allowed himself to be re-elected for another term as Chief of the Party's Central Military Commission (CMC). By retaining control over the military, Jiang effectively usurped the Commander-in-Chief powers of the new General Party Secretary and President, Hu Jintao. This has lead to uncertainty within China about the exact military chain of command. Additionally, military leadership within the CMC has passed to a new generation of less political, more practical, generals. This conference addressed the impact that these personnel and political changes have had on the PLA. Some key insights from the conference are as follows: elder Chinese Communist Party leaders, such as Jiang Zemin, are becoming increasingly marginalized, while leaders of the Fourth Generation are becoming more prominent; the Chinese political system is becoming increasingly institutionalized, however, this process is not yet complete; there is growing separation between Chinese civil and military elites; the best way to describe China's new military leaders is as Techno-Nationalists -- generals with strong operational and technical backgrounds who have a great interest in modernizing the People's Liberation Army; and several new concepts in Chinese military thought require further study by Western researchers.

In November 2002, the Chinese Communist Party held its 16th Congress and formally initiated a sweeping turnover of senior leaders in both the Party and the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The meeting heralded not merely a new set of personalities in positions of political and military power, but also the emergence of a new generation of leaders. Who are these individuals, and what does their rise mean for the future of China and its military? The group of China specialists who have written this book have applied their research talents, intelligence, and hands-on experience to clarify and explain the most important issues of the day in China. China obviously matters to the United States because of its size, its spectacular patterns of growth, its profound problems linked to rapid growth, and its military intentions. These specialists have avoided the diseases of bias, demagoguery, predispositions, and showmanship, which infect so many of the analyses of China. Rather, they have examined the facts and the trends to explain the divisions and cohesions in the Chinese leadership and their potential significance to the United States and the rest of the world. These annual conferences have a long continuity stretching back to the early 1990s. Hence, there is a common database for the books produced each year. The writers revisit major problems in China's development, particularly in the military sphere. They also examine how Chinese policies have evolved over the years, and how important the United States has been in influencing China's strategy. What, for instance, will the emerging leadership with its factious differences do about Taiwan and North Korea? The conference took place at the Carlisle Barracks in September 19- 21, 2003, and was sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the Army War College. The exchanges were frank, the atmosphere was filled with camaraderie and tension.

This book demonstrates that civil-military relations have evolved beyond symbiosis to quasi-institutionalization in post-Deng Xiaoping China. As the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is a Leninist party-army, it is commonly assumed that the relationship between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the PLA is symbiotic and institutional boundaries based on a clear functional division of labor are absent between the two. This symbiosis suggests that the primary role of the PLA is in China’s domestic politics; it is to participate in intra-CCP leadership power struggle and in defending the CCP regime against popular rebellions from within Chinese society. By analyzing major changes in the functions of the PLA political commissar system, the extent of the PLA involvement in the power struggle of the CCP leadership, and the circulation of elites across civil-military institutional boundaries, this book offers a new theoretical explanation of civil-military relations in China. It also discusses the implications of the findings for China’s domestic politics and foreign policy.

This new book addresses three key issues: What has changed in Chinese civil-military relations? What can account for changes? And what are the implications for Chinese security policy and strategic behaviour? It tackles these questions by sharply assessing civil-military dynamics in elite politics; such dynamics in national security and arms control policy; relations between commanders and political commissars; relations between the PLA and society; civil-military dynamics regarding defence economics and logistics; and such dynamics regarding dual-use technologies and defence industry. These analyses build into the central theme that the emphasis of Chinese civil-military relations is shifting from politics to military tasks. This is an extremely important new development by a nation many predict to become a super power in the twenty-first century. This is therefore essential reading for all students and scholars of strategic and security studies, Chinese studies and international relations.

Thirty years ago, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) made a fateful decision: to allow newspapers, magazines, television, and radio stations to compete in the marketplace instead of being financed exclusively by the government. The political and social implications of that decision are still unfolding as the Chinese government, media, and public adapt to the new information environment. Edited by Susan Shirk, one of America's leading experts on contemporary China, this collection of essays brings together a who's who of experts--Chinese and American--writing about all aspects of the changing media landscape in China. In detailed case studies, the authors describe how the media is reshaping itself from a propaganda mouthpiece into an agent of watchdog journalism, how politicians are reacting to increased scrutiny from the media, and how television, newspapers, magazines, and Web-based news sites navigate the cross-currents between the open marketplace and the CCP censors. China has over 360 million Internet users, more than any other country, and an astounding 162 million bloggers. The growth of Internet access has dramatically increased the information available, the variety and timeliness of the news, and its national and international reach. But China is still far from having a free press. As of 2008, the international NGO Freedom House ranked China 181 worst out of 195 countries in terms of press restrictions, and Chinese journalists have been aptly described as "dancing in shackles." The recent controversy over China's censorship of Google highlights the CCP's deep ambivalence toward information freedom. Covering everything from the rise of business media and online public opinion polling to environmental journalism and the effect of media on foreign policy, Changing Media, Changing China reveals how the most populous nation on the planet is reacting to demands for real news.

Despite continuing criticism of the Chinese authoritarian political system, the range of participants in the decision-making process has widened, with different social actors now playing an increasingly important role in the Chinese policymaking process. Accordingly, the role of think tanks in the policymaking process has generated great interest within and outside China. This book explores the behaviour and influence of China's think tanks, and explains the reasons and social consequences of the rise of think tanks in China. The book raises several questions on the topic: How did think tanks emerge in China? What are the essential factors that determine think tanks in terms of building their governmental and personal networks? How do think tanks work and build their influence in the Chinese policy process? What happens to Chinese society when think tanks become important policy participants in the policy process? The book goes on to discuss new perspectives on policy processes and elite politics in China, and empirically, with comparative case study and data from nationwide questionnaire surveys, provides a comprehensive picture of think tanks in the current political system of the country.