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The Central Military Commission (:yítào jīgòu liǎngkuài páizi). Unlike most national armies, the People's Liberation Army is not considered as just another ministry. Although China does have a Ministry Of National Defense , headed by a Minister of National Defense, it exists solely for liaison with foreign militaries and does not have command authority. One of the few other nations with same structure is Vietnam . Leadership of the CMC is largely believed to be the most important in the PROC. Anyone who sits as a chairperson of the CMC has control of the armed forces, is recognized as Commander-in-Chief, and thereby has effective control over the state. STRUCTURE State CMC The state CMC is elected by and theoretically reports to the National People's Congress but is in practice autonomous. The state CMC was created by the Constitution Of The People's Republic Of China in 1982 and was intended to formalize the role of the military within the state structure. Party CMC The Party CMC is elected by the Central Committee Of The Communist Party Of China and is subordinate to the Politburo Of The Communist Party Of China or Politburo Standing Committee Of The Communist Party Of China . Power is wielded through the party military commission, but legitimacy arises from the state CMC. The Party and state Central Military Commissions are in command of the Armed Forces of China, which consist of the People's Liberation Army (including the PLA Ground Force , PLA Navy , PLA Air Force ), People's Armed Police and Militia . MEMBERS AND LEADERS The members of the two CMCs only differ because of the difference of the convening times of National Congress Of The Communist Party Of China and National People's Congress of the PRC. For example, some were elected into Party CMC in the Sixteenth National Congress Of The Communist Party Of China in November 2002, but they entered the state CMC in March 2003, when the 10th National People's Congress convened. The convention has been that the CMC consists of uniformed military commanders, except for the chairman and first vice-chairman (if any) who are General Secretaries of the Communist Party Of China . Another convention is that the military members of the CMC are generally members of neither the Politburo Standing Committee nor the State Council outside of the Ministry of National Defense, although they all tend to be members of the Communist Party Of China and are members of the Central Committee . The military members of the CMC are apparently chosen with regular promotion procedures from within the People's Liberation Army . Therefore, under any conditions, the armed forces of China are commanded and lead by General Staff Headquarters, the General Political Department, the General Logistics Department and the General Armaments Department of the PLA, which implements the directives of the CMC. Along with General Secretary and President , the Chairman of the Central Military Commission is one of the most powerful leaders in the Chinese political realm. The Chairman of the CMC is often a senior official who has given up his other posts, and the CMC Chairman was held by both Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin after they retired from other posts. In the case of Deng Xiaoping, because of his prestige, he was able to exercise considerable power after his retirement, in part from his position as CMC Chairman. There was speculation that Jiang Zemin would be able to retain some authority after his retirement from the positions of General Secretary and President; however this does not appear to be the case. One major factor, which went unnoticed by many analysts, is that in contrast to Deng Xiaoping, who always had close relations with the People's Liberation Army , Jiang had no military background. In addition, with the promotion of the fourth generation of Chinese leaders to lead the civilian party, there was also a corresponding promotion of military leaders. All the military members of the CMC come from Hu Jintao 's generation rather than from Jiang's, and at the time of the leadership transition, there appeared some very sharp editorials from military officers suggesting that the military would have strong objections to Jiang attempting to exercise power behind the scenes. Jiang Zemin retired from his post as Chairman of the party's Central Military Commission in September 2004 to Hu Jintao , and from the state's in March 2005 , solidifying Hu's position as paramount leader. FUNCTION During periods of political stress such as the Tian'anmen Protests Of 1989 , this system can act in the usual way. According the Constitution of the Communist Party Of China , the power is held by the Politburo Standing Committee when the Central Committee and the Politburo of the Communist Party Of China are closed. In 1989, the five members of Politburo Standing Committee were Zhao Ziyang , Li Peng , Qiao Shi , Yao Yilin and Hu Qili . The majority, consisting of Li Peng , Qiao Shi and Yao Yilin , determined the decision of the Politburo Standing Committee that supported the Chairman of the CMC, Deng Xiaoping . Zhao Ziyang , although the General Secretary , must obey the majority opinion of the Politburo Standing Committee by the Democratic Centralism . Thus the CMC with its Chairman Deng Xiaoping kept the theoretical legitimacy to follow the leadership of the Politburo Standing Committee in 1989. During those protests, the President Of The People's Republic Of China , Yang Shangkun , cooperated with the Politburo Standing Committee and the Chairman of the CMC Deng Xiaoping . SEE ALSO |
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