THEME 2: AUTHORITY AND GOVERNANCE (Role of Chinas Political Institutions)

How far do you agree that the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) is the most important political institution in China today? [2011/H1/VJC Prelim]

QUESTION ANALYSIS
FOCUS ASSUMPTION CRITERIA
MICRO QN: Comparing the importance of PLA in comparison with Chinas 2 other political institutions: the Party (i.e. CCP) and the State. The PLA is the most important political institution in governing China today, and it primarily ensures Chinas political and socio-economic progress in the 21st Century. Which institution bears the most influence in major political decisions, such as coming out with the Five-Year Plans, implementing laws and regulations, producing policies to manage economic growth etc? Which institution has proven that it has considerable control over the actions and functioning of the other 2 political institutions, as well as other elements of Chinas political structure? Which institution has the most public support that serves to legitimize its governing role in China?

EVIDENCE STAND

Varying evidence e.g. professionalization of the PLA; the PLAs increasing non-political roles such as in UN PKO etc. The Chinese Communist Party, instead of the PLA, is the most important political institution in China today.

INTRODUCTION After Deng advocated the division of labour as the fundamental basis for political reforms since 1978, state power in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) had been exercised through 3 inter-locking political institutions: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the State and the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA). The political structure of the PRC essentially evolved into an oligarchy whereby political power and advancement depends on gaining and retaining the support of an informal body of people who constitute the leadership of the 3 organs. However, functional differentiation gave rise to political cleavages and resulted in inconsistencies in policy implementation, with duplications of similar institutions occurring at both Party and State level, which resulted in unnecessary repetitive portfolios and unhealthy competitions. As such, with the intricate complexities that exist between the relationships of these 3 political entities, one may then question which of these serves as the most important political institution of China today. One may largely disagree with the given assertion because it is the CCP, and not the PLA, that serves as the most significant political entity in China today since it is the overall locus control that harnesses the operations of the other 2 political organs, and the one that wields the ultimate power in key political decision-making processes to ensure the survival and socio-economic progress of the nation. TS1: Undoubtedly, the PLA does play a crucial role as a political institution in China today, especially in safeguarding Chinas national interests and flexing her military muscle to project China as a rising regional and global power that is a force to reckon with. Being the 3rd largest military institution in the world with annual defence budget rising exponentially at double-digit rate per year (from US$30 billion in 2000 to almost US$160 billion in 2012), the increasing emphasis that the Chinese government has placed on the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) is ringing alarm bells in Asia and the rest of the world as they are becoming more wary of Chinas military expansion. The PLA is indeed crucial in projecting China as a rising superpower on the global stage, and has spurred several strategies to solidify its dominance within the Asia-Pacific region. For instance, the recent Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) strategy that the PLA has adopted, an idea that uses pinpoint ground attack and anti-ship missiles, a growing fleet of modern submarines and cyber and anti-satellite weapons to disable another nations military assets from afar, has significantly deterred USAs military advancement in Asia as Chinas rapid military professionalization poses a significantly greater and costlier risk for USA to further intensify her military advancement in Asia. This has gravely eroded the confidence of Americas Asian allies that the guarantor of their security will always be for them, and have expressed greater inclination to seek support from Chinas PLA in safeguarding the regions security instead. This is evident in showing how the PLA has proven itself in projecting China as a prominent regional power that has yielded a greater degree of supports from her Asian counterparts. Furthermore, the PLA has also justified itself as an important political entity to China in terms of safeguarding
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THEME 2: AUTHORITY AND GOVERNANCE (Role of Chinas Political Institutions)

some of Chinas highly prioritized national interests such as preserving her territorial rights over Taiwan and sustaining her economic growth. The island chain strategy that the PLA has implemented, whereby it stationed numerous amounts of vessels and warships along a perimeter running from the Aleutians in the north to Taiwan, the Philippines and Borneo, has markedly repelled American aircraft-carriers from providing military support to Taiwan. This strategy put forth by the PLA has largely diminished any prospects for Taiwan to fight for independence in view of her lack of support from her USA ally, thereby preserving Chinas territorial sovereignty over Taiwan. Moreover, the PLA Navy (PLAN) also serves as a crucial guardian of Chinas ever-expanding economic interests. Chinas growing fleet of stealthy frigates and up-to-date blue water capabilities have enabled the PLAN to dominantly control large portions of important trading routes, such as the Arctic Region, South China Sea as well as the Straits of Hormuz; and conduct effective anti-piracy patrols along the Gulf of Aden so as to preserve the nations access to energy and raw material supplies, which are all essential factors of production to fuel and sustain Chinas economic growth. Therefore, it can be agreed to a considerable extent that the PLA does play a significant role as a political institution in China today, since it is able to flex Chinas military muscle to her rising superpower status, as well as safeguarding Chinas national interests such as sustaining economic growth and protecting her territorial rights over Taiwan. Transitional Paragraph: However, it is worthy to note that the significant de-politicization that the PLA is currently undergoing, coupled with the fact that its course of actions are largely dictated and puppeteered by the much more domineering Chinese Communist Party (CCP), seem to disproves the assertion that the PLA is the most important political institution in China today. TS2: On the flipside, the increasing bifurcation of the PLA from political affairs is a significant testament that seems to invalidate the aforementioned claim that the PLA is the most important political entity in modern China today. Under Maos regime, the PLA played significant political roles in the government, with many leaders having held concurrent Party and military positions, resulting in many institutional overlap. With the move away from a radicalized evolutionary era, Deng hoped to develop a non-military form of governance that is conducive to economic and social developments. At the same time, he also proposed the modernization and professionalization of the PLA to build up its functional capability as a national security force rather than as a force that merely put down domestic unrests. Hence, there was significant de-politicization of the PLA since Dengs era, and this transformation was accelerated under Jiangs and Hus administrations. For instance, the military held 23% of the seats in the Central Committee elected during the 14th Party Congress. However, by the 17th Party Congress in 2007, the percentage of military representatives had fallen to 20.5%. Even more importantly, the PLA has not had any representative on the prestigious Politburo Standing Committee since 1997. Furthermore, even though the 1989 Tiananmen Crackdown seems to suggest that the CCP is in a dire need of the PLA to quell any civil unrest, such an incident is but a case of exception as the combination of rapid economic growth, suppression of independent political organizations, and relatively rapid responses to grievances and protests has succeeded in maintaining order without the need for much military intervention. Increased effectiveness of public security forces and the ability of the Peoples Armed Police (PAP) to respond to larger scale disturbances have limited the need for military involvement in maintaining order. Even in the leadership transitions and recruitment of top leaders, there is little evidence of a significant military role in the selection process. For instance, despite of having weak formal relations with the military, Hu Jintao was still elected as Chinas President due to his promising leadership qualities and vast network of political relations not so much because of his military ties. Thus, while in theory this provides an opportunity for dissent, in practice the military role appears to be formal approval of decisions that have already been made elsewhere. Moreover, the increasing professionalization of the PLA through the C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computer, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance) framework where the army carry out regular military exercises and weapon upgrades, coupled with its increasing involvement in non-political roles such as conducting UN
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THEME 2: AUTHORITY AND GOVERNANCE (Role of Chinas Political Institutions)

Peacekeeping Missions in troubled nations like Sudan (2007), Libya (2007) as well as its humanitarian involvement in emergency rescue efforts like in the Sichuan Earthquake (2008), are valid testaments of PLAs gradual transformation from a political institution to a more professionialized military institution. Therefore, as it no longer possesses the same level of political capital as their predecessors and therefore is less able to act as power brokers within the system, the PLA is thus no longer the most important political institution in China today serving more as an organ that is military in nature than it is political. TS3: Rather, it is the CCP, and not the PLA, that serves as the most important political entity in China because the former wields the ultimate power in determining several key political decision-making processes to achieve some of the nations top goals, such as boosting Chinas economic development in which the PLA is not adequately equipped with the necessary skills and expertise to make such judgment calls. The CCP largely serves as the supreme architect of Chinas political and economic great power status, wielding the ultimate power in key decision-making processes to ensure the continued progress of the nation, such as coming up with the 5 Year Plans to review the political and socioeconomic goals that China will work towards to achieve within the stipulated 5-year period. For example, motivated to enhance the nations robust double-digit economic growth a top goal of the nations agenda that has been echoed in numerous policy papers, the CCP has devised numerous open-door policies to attain such remarkable successes, such as the establishment of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in coastal regions like Shenzhen and Pearl River Delta to boost trading activities and the continual attraction of Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) from US$38 billion in 2000 to US$185 billion in 2010. These remarkable successes made possible by the CCP are something that the PLA is not able to achieve, due to the constraints in its role and function as a political entity. The PLA is a specialist organization, not an organization of generalists, and it is short on experience in civilian administration. Although it is reasonably unified, exercising the responsibilities of civil administration would very likely divide it along several fault lines. Because national defense is its mission, there are thus serious doubts casted on PLA officers in their abilities at directing economic development or political and economic reforms. Although the PLA has had more experience than some armies in civil administration (i.e. during Maos era) where its meddling with political affairs occurred to such a great extent that the military and political responsibilities of the organization are sometimes blurred, that experience is now forty years old and only a tiny handful of senior PLA officers are still on active duty remember it. One could thus argue that since economic issues dominate Chinas political agenda and since the PLA acquired only a meager amount of managerial experience in economics and politics in recent years due to the increasingly streamlined and professionalized function of the organization, it is better suited to take a backseat when it comes to political actions and let the CCP drive Chinas political course of actions. More interestingly, given the fact that the Central Military Commission (CMC), which is the primary organ that exercises the command and control of the PLA, is a subsidiary body of the CCP the PLAs role as a political entity is further reduced to that of being a political henchman to the CCP as its role and functions are heavily dictated and supervised by the CCP. Hence, in view of the fact that the CCP wields a greater scope and degree of authority in controlling the actions of the PLA and achieving some of the nations top political goals, such as sustaining economic development, than the PLA; it can thus be said with confidence that the CCP, and not the PLA, is the most important political institution in modern China today, thereby nullifying the validity of the given statement. TS4: Moreover, even in the field of Chinas Foreign Policy, although the PLA serves as the key instigator of nationalistic sentiments and exerts a significant impact on foreign affairs, especially with regard to national territories such situations are more often than not masterminded by the CCP, which uses the PLA only as a sacrificial pawn to help achieve the formers grandeur political ambitions. This reaffirms the argument that the CCP is a more significant political entity than the PLA. The PLA plays a significant role in the Taiwan issue, evident in the 1995-1996 Cross Straits Crisis, where it allegedly acted without the permission of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to fire threatening test
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THEME 2: AUTHORITY AND GOVERNANCE (Role of Chinas Political Institutions)

missiles across the Taiwan straits. The professionalized PLA began to represent a new and powerful China that has flexed both her economic and military muscles to influence the world today. For instance, during Chinas Anti-Satellite Missile Test incident in January 2007, the PLA is accused by the USAs Bush Administration in launching the medium-range ballistic missile on a PRC weather satellite without the permission of the CCP or the Chinese Foreign Ministry. This sparked intense speculation amongst the outside observers the lack of civilian control over the PLA, and the increasing autonomous role of PLA in political decision-making as a political body. However, such offensive approaches that PLA undertook in handing international crises had faced much criticism from the public. Given the allegation that civilian leadership did not condone or admit to ordering the military exercises, many have questioned whether it was the CCP who allows the PLA this degree of independence as a political entity to make its own judgment call on an internationally-controversial crisis which could essentially tarnish the reputation of China if the situation was inappropriately handled; or did the CCP use the independence of the PLA as a political instrument to threaten the world without having to be accountable for it. In either ways, the PLA is viewed more as a political puppet that is easily manipulated by the CCP to achieve the latters own political goals, rather than as an independent political institution that passes its own judgment call in crucial political-decision making processes. Furthermore, the 2007 AntiSatellite Missile Test incident was but a case of exception in exemplifying PLAs degree of autonomy as a political institution, as in many other areas of foreign politics, the PLA is relatively not an independent source of authority. The Foreign Affairs Ministers and Party Leaders still wield more powers as it was them, and not the PLA, who have effectively managed the nationalistic sentiments of the public who quelled potential civil dissents, and cease the conflict. In this light, perhaps the role of the PLA as a political institution is not as significant as that of the CCP, since the former is often more perceived as a pawn controlled by the CCP to achieve the latters political gimmicks in Chinas political discourse and the bigger scheme of things. TS5: Furthermore, the State also plays a more significant role as a political institution than the PLA does, because the National Peoples Congress (NPC) under the State elects the Chairman of the CMC in the first place, which then exercises the command and control of the PLA. However, these 2 political entities are still largely monitored by the CCP, legitimizing the latter as the most important political institution of all the 3. The State comprises 3 subsidiary organs: the NPC, the President, and the State Council. Under the PRC Constitution, the NPC is heralded as the highest state body and the unicameral legislative house in China, serving as the biggest parliament in the world and a forum for mediating policy differences between different parts of the Party, the government, and groups of society. In view of the high significance that has been bestowed upon the NPC, the fact that the NPC elects the Chairman of the CMC which in turn dictates the actions of the PLA seems to suggest that the State precedes the PLA in terms of its significance as a political entity, since this hierarchical chain of command enables the State (i.e. the NPC) to indirectly control the PLA by passing policies that the PLA is obliged to follow. However, the State and NPC still pales in comparison to the importance of the CCP as a political institution. Even though the NPC is given the liberty to debate and pass prominent legislatures and initiatives presented by the State Council, this is done with the condition that most of the legislations passed by the NPC were in line with what the CCP desired for China. The CCPs acceptance of the NPC is founded on the premise that there would be no watering down of the principle of CCP supremacy. Once it becomes evident that the NPC is undermining the CCPs legitimacy and control over the Chinese society, the CCP will retaliate and crush the role and position of the State as a political organ. CCPs domineering control over the NPC is evident in 1995 when the Revised Election and Organization Laws were passed, signaling clearly that direct elections to NPC would not be held beyond the country level. This meant that balloting at the municipal, provincial and national level would still be in the form of indirect elections where CCP authorities wield a high degree of control. In 1997 and 1998, NPCs legislator attempts to push for a Law of Supervision that would give the NPC teeth over the CCP and government units were vetoed by Party Cadres, and caused legalist Qiao Shi to be fired and replaced with more conservative
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THEME 2: AUTHORITY AND GOVERNANCE (Role of Chinas Political Institutions)

and pro-CCP Li Peng. Furthermore, membership of the NPC today is still largely determined by the CCP with 60-70% of the NPC membership consisting of CCP members, rendering the entire Congress to be still largely CCP-controlled. Therefore, given that all attempts by the NPC to check CCPs power lacked any real effect, the NPC and State organ as a whole are merely symbolic but powerless rubber stamp legislatures that are dominantly CCP-infiltrated. Hence, even though the importance of the State as a political entity may seem to precede that of the PLA, the CCP is still the most important political institution of all the 3 political organs given the formers overwhelming dominance in the State, NPC and the PLA. Conclusion Reiterates points and stand Despite being the most prominent political institution of all 3, the CCP must realize that the PLA is an essential ally for the survival of the CCP as a legitimate ruling party as it cannot survive domestic and international turmoil without the full support of the army. Although it no longer carries the revolutionary slogan and has pursued a more professional expert route rather than the ideological and political ones, the PLA is in its own right an embodiment of nationalism and ideology since the inception of the Communist state. As such, despite it being relatively more depoliticized as compared to before, it still remains a force to watch and beware of, because a country, no matter how economically and socially strong and reputable, are still extremely vulnerable to both internal and external threats and attacks without the full support of the military. Given that the PLA wields the option to either challenge or support the legitimacy of the CCP, any professionalization and modernization of the PLA must be done in the most meticulous manner so as to ensure that the CCP does not ruffle the feathers of the military. In the same vein, the PLA must also realize its survival largely depends on the CCP and that the great degree of autonomy that the PLA has been bestowed upon is an advantage that the military cannot substantially enjoy in any other conceivable political system. This serves to prove how the CCP is the most important political institution in China today, because it controls and sustains the lifelines of all political organs inclusive of the PLA in the nations political system. As such, instead of competing with one another to prove which organization is Chinas most valuable political institution, the PLA, CCP and State should all work in synchrony and complement each other under one united political system instead of a divided 3-part structure, since everyone needs one another to legitimately function for the continued political and socio-economic progress of China in the 21st Century.

CJC Humanities Dept. 2012