Civil-Military Integration and PLA Reforms

In December 2015, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) formally launched reforms that have been described as the “most wide-ranging and ambitious restructuring since 1949.” Central Military Commission (CMC) Chairman Xi Jinping announced his intention to pursue these changes by calling them the “only way to develop a strong military and the key to deciding the future of the PLA.” The PLA’s new plan set several goals for 2020: achieving “breakthrough development” in joint operations command system reforms and leadership management system reforms, as well as “significant results” in military force reductions, reforms to improve defense policies, and civil-military integration (CMI) development. CMI’s inclusion as a key pillar in a transformative reform agenda confirmed its importance to the PLA’s overall modernization, and China’s unwavering embrace of it as a national strategic imperative.

To read more, see: https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Publications/Books/Chairman-Xi-Remakes-the-PLA/

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