June 4, 1989. Numerous military tanks stormed through the roads of Beijing into Tiananmen Square on the orders of then communist party leader, Deng Xiaoping to kill stop a student protest. These army troops fired, murdering thousands of their own people who had been peacefully protesting for reforms. But have you ever wondered what would have happened had the Chinese army said “NO”?
Let’s hold that thought for a minute and look into the nature and the values that China’s People Liberation Army or PLA, was built on.
PLA: PARTY’S LOYAL ARMY
In 1927 after series of defeats at the hands of Koumintang (KMT) and General Chiang Kai-shek – the Communist Party of China (CCP) finally accepted that they’d lost enough. CCP desperately needed an army to fight the communist war – and thus was born the ‘Red Army’.
The CCP’s army cadre was not only trained in the art of wielding a weapon but they were taught ancient Chinese values, strategies from ‘Romance of three kingdoms’ and ‘Art of war’, they even learnt from Soviet’s army.. but it’s main values and structure came from the Leninist-Marxist and Mao Zedong Thought. Every soldier of the communist army was given mandatory lessons in communist ideology and communist way of living. And it was done for two important reasons – (1) indoctrination of these young soldiers, and more importantly (2) to entrench deep loyalty towards CCP’s then king leader – Mao Zedong.
Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.
George Orwell
After series of wars against KMT, Mao Zedong finally won the throne – China soon became ‘Peoples Republic of China’ and Mao’s red army was re-christened ‘People’s Liberation Army or PLA’. But that’s all that changed. Till today, 97 years since the birth of Red Army, the Party still ensures absolute control of the military through indoctrination, selectively interpretation of history, censorship and constant supervision by political commissars and cadre review and discipline committees.
Recipe To Make A Good Communist Soldier – To ensure that PLA remains “Party’s army”, the central command and overall authority lies with the Central Military Commission which is headed by the Chairman of CCP. At unit level, in theory, PLA is led jointly by military commander and political commissar (who is the Party’s representative). In practice however the orders of the political commissar hold more value. The reason for this is simple – the Political worker apart from carrying out Party’s objectives is responsible for managing military personnels promotions, training, recruitment as well as discipline issues. He is also responsible for expenditure of funds and managing public perception of the unit and its military leaders. So, if a military person wants to ensure his career progress, he needs to follow the whims and facies of his commissar.
But, the CCP is very smart. It doesn’t solely rely only on a commissar.
Within the PLA, to inculcate the values of a “good communist”, the training program includes mandatory courses in communist thought and ethics. The Party ensure various education campaigns are conducted at every stage of a soldier’s career. It doesn’t stop there – all training material provided to the military is especially prepared by Party’s propaganda department to emphasizes the message that ‘without the Party, there is no army and no China’.
The PLA is not like any other country’s military force – they pledges their allegiance to the communist party of China….NOT to the country and NOT the people of China!
THE PLA OATH
I am a member of the People’s Liberation Army. I promise that I will follow the leadership of the Communist Party of China, serve the people wholeheartedly, obey orders, strictly observe discipline, fight heroically, fear no sacrifice, loyally discharge my duties, work hard, practice hard to master combat skills, and resolutely fulfill my missions. Under no circumstance will I betray the motherland or desert the army.
ENSURING LOYALTY BY ENFORCING IT – The Party Vs Military
Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.
1984
Mao Zedong’s CCP had a unique way of ‘thought reform’ – he broke down a person and then built a new, more suitable version of him. This was done very simply under the guise of “study groups”. These groups would isolate and criticize an individual for his different views. This was followed by round-the-clock interrogation which was designed to torture and break down the individual’s spirit (sometimes it entirely took away the will to live – like Gao Gang in 1956). Most of Mao’s victims broke under pressure and issued self-criticism and public apologies; And those who refused – were jailed, executed or just simply “disappeared”.
If you’re thinking 21st century China under Xi Jinping, is different in treating its military men – then you would be very wrong!
Military purges are part of every communist country’s tradition, but like Mao, it has become the defining feature of Xi Jinping’s reign.
Mao once said, “the Party commands the gun, and the gun must never be allowed to command the Party.” Xi Jinping and his policies exactly replicate Mao’s opinion. Since 2013, Xi Jinping has sacked / demoted / forcibly caused the disappearance of at least 4000 PLA leaders including 100 top senior level officers. Interestingly, the allegations on each of them have been similar – corruption, inefficiency or character flaw.
In the last one year alone, Xi has sacked and imprisoned some of the most popular leaders like –
- General Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe (former defense ministers)
- PLA’s Strategic Support Force commander, General Ju Qiansheng, and his deputy, Lieutenant General Shang Hong
- Naval commander of the Southern Theatre Command, Admiral Ju Xinchun
- Air force commander, General Ding Laihang
- Deputy commander of PLA Navy, Lieutenant General Feng Danyu
This list goes on.
But doesn’t it makes you wonder – just how was the CCP running the military if everyone was “corrupt”!? A few did dare to ask this – coincidently, they’ve been missing ever since…
We must make it clear that the barrels of the gun must always be in the hands of those who are loyal and dependable to the Party.
Xi Jinping
Here’s another interesting fact, not only is Xi Jinping the chairman of CMC (the main body that control’s PLA) but Xi has recently also placed his wife, Peng Liyuan, as the chief of the Cadre Assessment Committee – meaning, the Xi family now wields uncontrollable power over military’s personnel management. And perhaps, PLA will not remain the Party’s Army for long – it might soon become Xi’s personal army.