PLA Influence on China s National Security Policymaking

PLA Influence on China s National Security Policymaking
Author: Phillip C. Saunders,Andrew Scobell
Publsiher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2015-09-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780804796286

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In recent years there have been reports of actions purportedly taken by People's Liberation Army (PLA) units without civilian authorization, and of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) civilian leaders seeking to curry favor with the military—suggesting that a nationalistic and increasingly influential PLA is driving more assertive Chinese policies on a range of military and sovereignty issues. To many experienced PLA watchers, however, the PLA remains a "party-army" that is responsive to orders from the CCP. PLA Influence on China's National Security Policymaking seeks to assess the "real" relationship between the PLA and its civilian masters by moving beyond media and pundit speculation to mount an in-depth examination and explanation of the PLA's role in national security policymaking. After examining the structural factors that shape PLA interactions with the Party-State, the book uses case studies to explore the PLA's role in foreign policy crises. It then assesses the PLA's role in China's territorial disputes and in military interactions with civilian government and business, exploring the military's role in China's civil–military integration development strategy. The evidence reveals that today's PLA does appear to have more influence on purely military issues than in the past—but much less influence on political issues—and to be more actively engaged in policy debates on mixed civil-military issues where military equities are at stake.

The Role of the Chinese Military in National Security Policymaking

The Role of the Chinese Military in National Security Policymaking
Author: Michael D. Swaine
Publsiher: RAND Corporation
Total Pages: 120
Release: 1996
Genre: History
ISBN: UCSD:31822021189014

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A comprehensive picture of China's national security policy process, with particular attention to the military's increasing influence in these critical areas.

Reshaping the Chinese Military

Reshaping the Chinese Military
Author: Richard A. Bitzinger,James Char
Publsiher: Routledge
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2018-11-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780429877629

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This edited volume examines the recalibration of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) roles and missions in China’s domestic and foreign policymaking since Xi Jinping’s ascension to power in late 2012. This book explores how China’s growing military prowess, along with Beijing’s ongoing shift away from "keeping a low profile," owes much to the policies of the China’s Communist Party under Xi Jinping’s leadership. The chapters in the book share a central theme: the recalibration of the PLA roles and missions since Xi Jinping assumed the trifecta of party-state-military power. These contributions seek to explore in depth some of the key issues and scrutinize the enhancements in the PLA’s operational capabilities, both in terms of its hardware as well as its "heartware" – the human elements of its development such as operational culture and doctrine. In all, the chapters document the transformative change the PLA has undergone since the profound realization of its previous limitations vis-à-vis the United States’ advanced military operations of the previous century as well as pointing to continuity amid change. This book will be of much interest to students of strategic studies, Chinese politics, Asian security, defense studies, and international relations, in general.

Shaping China s Security Environment

Shaping China s Security Environment
Author: Andrew Scobell,Larry M. Wortzel
Publsiher: Unknown
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2006-10-31
Genre: Electronic Book
ISBN: 1461185742

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For 2 decades after the People's Republic of China (PRC) was established, there was no question that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) had a central role in shaping China's security and foreign policy. Indeed, the PLA also was a major actor in domestic policy. The new leaders that took over China in 1949 all came from the military or Communist Party cadre who fought the Nationalists from 1927 through the Anti Japanese War, and then fought the final battles of the civil war. At the local, provincial, and national level, the Party, the Army, and the government were almost synonymous. The PLA's influence in national policy declined in subsequent decades, however. Today, one must carefully count the number of senior leaders with military connections in the Communist Party Politburo to debate the extent of PLA influence in China. In 1950, when the Chinese forces poured across the border into the Korean War, there was no doubt that the PLA was a principal actor in shaping the security environment in China. The same is true of the PLA's actions in the Sino-Indian War and in the Cultural Revolution, when the military restored order. In Africa, PLA Railway Engineer Corps troops advanced China's interests with projects like the Tan- Zam Railway. During the American involvement in Vietnam, some 50,000 PLA troops deployed to North Vietnam and Laos in support of China's political and security interests. In 1979 and again in 1989, the generation of PLA veterans in the central Chinese government turned to the military. The numbers of military personnel in the National People's Congress and the leading bodies of the Communist Party today, however, are far lower than they were in the first few decades of the PRC's existence. This volume is an attempt to characterize the way that the PLA shapes, and is used by the government to shape, China's security environment. The military clearly is not as central an actor as it was in the past. The editors and the authors attempted in this volume to characterize the extent to which the PLA shapes the domestic, regional, or global security environment to meet China's interests. We asked each of the contributing authors to examine a series of questions as he or she addressed the topic:* How does the PLA function as an actor in China's security and foreign policies?* Is the PLA the principal actor in policy formulation, or does it provide support for foreign policy and security initiatives?* At what point in the policy process does the PLA interact with the various central Party and government "leading groups" that decide foreign and security policies?* Is the PLA shaping the security environment through such mechanisms as defense exchanges, arms sales, visits by senior officers, student officer exchanges, or military exercises?* Is there a clear security or foreign policy agenda in specific geographic regions attributable to the PLA?The short answer to these questions is that the PLA remains an important actor and factor in shaping the international and domestic security environment for the central leadership. Clearly, the military is not the central player that it once was. Rather, the PLA is one of a number of foreign policy and security actors, and it responds to the Politburo Standing Committee and Central Military Commission, whose members are no longer almost exclusively military veterans. This book is not all inclusive of the world, or all of the international activities by the PLA. The authors cover the domestic landscape in China and the state of civil-military relations. The book also explores how the PLA assesses U.S. military actions, the strength of the U.S. military, and the situation in and around the Taiwan Strait. For Asia, the book assesses the PLA's posture with respect to South Asia, Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea.

The PLA and China s Rejuvenation

The PLA and China s Rejuvenation
Author: Timothy R. Heath,Kristen Gunness,Cortez A. Cooper
Publsiher: Unknown
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: History
ISBN: 0833095714

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This study describes China's national and security strategies and its approach to war and escalation control; summarizes its military capabilities developments; and reviews its concepts for deterrence in strategic (nuclear, space, and cyber) and conventional domains. The study concludes with implications for U.S. policymakers and warfighters.

China s Grand Strategy

China   s Grand Strategy
Author: Andrew Scobell,Edmund J. Burke,Cortez A. Cooper III,Sale Lilly,Chad J. R. Ohlandt,Eric Warner,J.D. Williams
Publsiher: Rand Corporation
Total Pages: 155
Release: 2020-07-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781977404206

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To explore what extended competition between the United States and China might entail out to 2050, the authors of this report identified and characterized China’s grand strategy, analyzed its component national strategies (diplomacy, economics, science and technology, and military affairs), and assessed how successful China might be at implementing these over the next three decades.

The People s Liberation Army and Contingency Planning in China

The People s Liberation Army and Contingency Planning in China
Author: Andrew Scobell,Arthur S. Ding,Phillip C. Saunders
Publsiher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2016-04-26
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 1365073726

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How will China use its increasing military capabilities in the future? China faces a complicated security environment with a wide range of internal and external threats. Rapidly expanding international interests are creating demands for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to conduct new missions ranging from protecting Chinese shipping from Somali pirates to evacuating citizens from Libya. The most recent Chinese defense white paper states that the armed forces must "make serious preparations to cope with the most complex and difficult scenarios . . . so as to ensure proper responses . . . at any time and under any circumstances." Based on a conference co-sponsored by Taiwan's Council of Advanced Policy Studies, RAND, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and National Defense University, The People's Liberation Army and Contingency Planning in China brings together leading experts from the United States and Taiwan to examine how the PLA prepares for a range of domestic, border, and maritime...

Chinese National Security Decisionmaking Under Stress

Chinese National Security Decisionmaking Under Stress
Author: Andrew Scobell,Larry M. Wortzel
Publsiher: Unknown
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2005-09-30
Genre: Electronic Book
ISBN: 1461197058

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If there is one constant in expert analyses of the history of modern China, it is the characterization of a country perpetually in the throes of crises. And in nearly all crises, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has played an instrumental role. While China at the mid-point of the 21st century's first decade is arguably the most secure and stable it has been in more than a century, crises continue to emerge with apparent frequency. Consequently, the study of China's behavior in conditions of tension and stress, and particularly how the PLA is a factor in that behavior, is of considerable importance to policymakers and analysts around the world. This volume represents the fruits of a conference held at the U.S. Army War College in September 2004 on the theme of "Chinese Crisis Management." One of the major debates that emerged among participants was whether all the case studies under examination constituted crises in the eyes of China's leaders. The consensus was that not all of these incidents were perceived as crises, a key case in point being the three Iraq wars (1980-88, 1990-91, and 2003). As a result, the rubric of "decisionmaking under stress" was adopted as presenters revised their papers for publication. No matter what rubric is employed, however, the chapters in this volume shed light on patterns of Chinese behavior in crisis-like situations and decisionmaking under stress. Michael Swaine's contributed chapter first establishes a general framework for understanding crisis management based on previous work by Alexander George and J. Philip Rogers. He then proceeds to apply this framework to Chinese crisis management in particular. Swaine identifies five basic variables that influence crisis management behavior, subjective views of leaders and public, domestic environment, decisionmaking structure, information receipt and processing, and idiosyncratic features. In the case of China, he argues, the country often views itself as a victim and therefore strongly reacts to what it perceives as "unjust actions" on the part of other countries. Chinese leaders are thereby compelled to signal their firm resolve on serious issues through words and actions. However, decisionmaking is centralized in the hands of a small number of Party cadre, who work to develop a consensus, while China's bureaucratic Party and intelligence system severely compartmentalizes the flow of information, especially to senior leaders. This limits and sometimes distorts the information they receive during crisis situations. Swaine then raises a number of questions about the factors that influence the Chinese framework for decisionmaking. He concludes that, if we can better understand the broad tendencies that affect China's crisis management style, we may be able to reduce the likelihood of undesirable situations in which a Sino-U.S. crisis would erupt. Larry Wortzel presented a paper on Chinese decisionmaking and the Tiananmen Square Massacre. In Wortzel's opinion, at the time of Hu Yaobang's death, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was under intense public pressure to reform and reduce corruption. Hu's death acted as a catalyst, leading to student demonstrations, which were encouraged by reformist members of the CCP. As the protests became larger, several conservative factions, normally at odds with one another, closed ranks and sought to end the demonstrations, first through police, then military, means. However, the consensus decision to use force took time, and the apparent lack of action by the Party was seen by protestors to be tacit approval of their actions.