The Role Of The Chinese Military In National Security Policymaking

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

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.

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.

This volume provides a coherent and comprehensive understanding of Chinese security policy, comprising essays written by one of America's leading scholars. Chinese Security Policy covers such fundamental areas as the role of international structure in state behavior, the use of force in international politics (including deterrence, coercive diplomacy, and war), and the sources of great-power conflict and cooperation and balance of power politics, with a recent focus on international power transitions. The research integrates the realist literature with key issues in Chinese foreign policy, thereby placing China’s behaviour in the larger context of the international political system. Within this framework, Chinese Security Policy considers the importance of domestic politics and leadership in Chinese policy making. This book examines how Chinese strategic vulnerability since U.S.-China rapprochement in the early 1970s has compelled Beijing to seek cooperation with the United States and to avoid U.S.-China conflict over Taiwan. It also addresses the implications of the rise of China for the security of both United States and of Chinese neighbors in East Asia, and considers the implications of China’s rise for the regional balance of power and the emerging twenty-first century East Asian security order. This book will be of great interest to all students of Chinese Security and Foreign Policy, Chinese and Asian Politics, US foreign policy and International Security in general.

Showing how economic, technological, and bureaucratic factors have reshaped Chinese military thinking and behaviour, this text questions the perception of a China threat and provides an appraisal of the Chinese military establishment, emphasizing the interplay of domestic and external forces.

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.

This volume provides a coherent and comprehensive understanding of Chinese security policy, comprising essays written by one of America's leading scholars. Chinese Security Policy covers such fundamental areas as the role of international structure in state behavior, the use of force in international politics (including deterrence, coercive diplomacy, and war), and the sources of great-power conflict and cooperation and balance of power politics, with a recent focus on international power transitions. The research integrates the realist literature with key issues in Chinese foreign policy, thereby placing Chinaâe(tm)s behaviour in the larger context of the international political system. Within this framework, Chinese Security Policy considers the importance of domestic politics and leadership in Chinese policy making. This book examines how Chinese strategic vulnerability since U.S.-China rapprochement in the early 1970s has compelled Beijing to seek cooperation with the United States and to avoid U.S.-China conflict over Taiwan. It also addresses the implications of the rise of China for the security of both United States and of Chinese neighbors in East Asia, and considers the implications of Chinaâe(tm)s rise for the regional balance of power and the emerging twenty-first century East Asian security order. This book will be of great interest to all students of Chinese Security and Foreign Policy, Chinese and Asian Politics, US foreign policy and International Security in general.

When China and Russia established a strategic partnership in 1996, both nations declared that they would further develop military cooperation in various fields. Tsai examines the course of this military cooperation to reveal the nature of the military ties with the hopes of determining whether these two traditional adversaries have put aside historical legacies and mutual mistrust to create a full-fledged military partnership. After analyzing the motives and concerns of both powers, Tsai concludes that, while progress has been made in reducing military tensions in border regions, the level of trust has not increased substantially. The nature of these ties remains extremely fragile. Among Western analysts, there has been concern that a closer partnership might adversely affect U.S. interests in the region. China and Russia have developed cooperation in certain areas, such as arms transfers and military-technical cooperation, and these achievements have successfully reduced political tension. However, reciprocal threats against each other's territories and China's increasing ambitions and capacity to act as a great military power in the region could eventually become a major source of friction. Based on research in both Chinese and Russian, this study offers a comprehensive analysis on the development of and limits to this military cooperation.