Chinese Civil-Military Relations: The Transformation of the People's Liberation Army

This new book addresses three key issues: What has changed in Chinese civil-military relations? What can account for changes? And what are the implications for Chinese security policy and strategic behavior? It tackles these questions by keenly assessing civil-military dynamics in elite politics; such dynamics in national security and arms control policy; relations between commanders and political commissars; relations between the PLA and society; civil-military dynamics regarding defense economics and logistics; and such dynamics regarding dual-use technologies and defense industry. These analyses build into the central theme that the emphasis of Chinese civil-military relations is shifting from politics to military tasks. This is an extremely important new development by a nation many predict to become a super power in the twenty-first century. This is therefore essential reading for all students and scholars of strategic and security studies, Chinese studies and internationalrelations.

Nan Li is Senior Fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore.