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Author : A. Kokoshin
Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dean, School of World Politics, M.V. Lomonosov
Moscow State University
THE MILITARY REFORM announced by the top leadership
of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese cab-
inet in 2015 is a large-scale and in-depth enterprise. It aims to
impart a new quality to the People's Liberation Army (PLA)
and other armed services.
The reform is, among other things, an important factor in
China's foreign policy as the military will apparently play a
larger role in the national security system.
ALL PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS of strategic defense control
and national security as a whole have undergone changes in
the course of the reform, which was announced by Chinese
President Xi Jinping late in November 2015. Chinese leaders argue that the PLA reform is part
of an effort of building "socialism with Chinese characteristics," a system securing CPC leader-
ship in all spheres of society.
Furthermore, the modernization of the armed forces is declared to be essential for putting into
practice the "China dream" formula that was put forward by Xi three years ago - "the great re-
newal of the Chinese nation."
The reform took at least seven years to plan, and Xi himself was closely involved in final stages
of the work.
IN RECENT HISTORY, the armed forces have often played a more important role in China's
domestic politics than has been the case in many other countries. By Chinese standards, events
where the military played a special role in China's home politics took place comparatively recently.
Today's Chinese leaders undoubtedly take account of those events in insisting on CPC control
of the PLA in a way that rules out any autonomy for the military.
THE PLA is undergoing organizational changes at three levels simultaneously - at national level,
at the level of potential war theaters, and at the level of individual services.
CHINA'S MILITARY REFORM aims to enable the PLA to cope with essentially new tasks set
to it by the CPC and government. It is, moreover, part of a vast-scale onslaught against corrup-
tion, which threatens not only the economic well-being but also the political stability of the
country.
http://interaffairs.ru
The Military Reform in China: Strategic, Political, Organizational,
and Administrative Aspects