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A quest for solutions that unites hearts and wisdom
The victory or defeat of an army is decided fundamentally by its government. The success of military reform is decided by strong political will.
A battle without gun smoke, the reforms have always been under the direct guidance and command of Chairman Xi.
As leader of the Party and commander of the armed forces, Xi set up the CMC leading group for deepening defense and military reforms and assumed its leadership. He personally ensured arrangements for the reforms, led the research and preparations, called three group meetings, listened to countless briefings and suggestions, and closely led the direction, path and process of the reforms.
In the spring of 2014, just after the two sessions of the national legislature and the top political advisory body, Xi called the first meeting of the CMC military reform leading group. It reviewed and passed the blueprint for major reform steps. Then the headquarters leading the reforms was established, marking the implementation of the reform work.
The start of a race will decide the latter half. Xi asked the leading group to learn to watch the whole picture, to plan big and manage the overall situation, making sure the overall design was proper; to strengthen study of major issues and deepen understanding of reform laws; and to insist on scientific decision-making and the mass-line as powerful guidance for deepening reforms.
Deputy head of the CMC leading group Fan Changlong and executive deputy head Xu Qiliang – both members of the political bureau of the CPC Central Committee and vice chairmen of the CMC – have listened to multiple briefings, convened special symposiums, organized the study of major issues, heard extensive feedback and suggestions, and guided the deliberation of reform plans.
The CMC has established offices, special teams, consultative expert groups and preparation groups responsible for the reforms and selected hundreds of capable officers, who are willing to advance reform, seek reform and to reform effectively, with the principles of “a small core but a big periphery” and “a strengthened whole system”. They will work as a whole and act as the reform command center with a responsible spirit for the CPC, the cause and history.
The difficulty of the reforms lies in breaking special interest barriers and guiding the thought of the military. Under the direct leadership of Chairman Xi, the research process has involved democratic decision-making and wisdom-sharing and united people’s thoughts to reach a consensus.
—— Identifying problems is where the reforms begin.
When national defense and military reforms become trickier, it means that what remains to be tackled are long accumulated systemic barriers, structural obstacles and policy problems. Xi, seeing the whole picture, stressed that the key and hard issues in building combat capacity must be tackled and efforts must be made in command systems, power structures and policy systems.
Focusing on what to reform and how to reform, leaders of the CMC, various reform working teams and offices began intensive and wide-ranging research. From March to October 2014, more than 800 symposiums and discussion meetings were held, involving more than 690 military and local units.
The research and discussions adopted “problem-oriented” and “solution-based” approaches to accurately target shortcomings in the development of the People’s Liberation Army. Institutional contradictions mainly lie in higher levels, with superficial and redundant functions and top-heavy structures; the lack of a land force command and management system is a structural weakness; the incomplete and poorly functioning CMC command system means the frontline joint command system is yet to be set up; many problems remain in military-civilian integration, with imperfect coordination and resource-sharing; the structure and scale of the army is irrational and policy-making lags behind…. The opinions pointed directly to the problems.
—— Reform is for a strong military and a strong military depends on its troops. If democracy and brainstorming were promoted, the reform would have unlimited vitality.
Xi’s requirements have run through the whole process of the research. “We must intensify our research and study major reform issues, listen to the voices at grass-roots level and the frontline as much as we can, get access to as many first-hand materials as we can and know ourselves well,” Xi said.
In mid to late April 2014, the CMC reform leading group heard opinions from leaders of major military units. Xi took time to listen to some of them. At the start of May, the CMC leading group listened to opinions from the four headquarters, and Xi again listened to them.
“Before we make decisions, we must listen to opinions from all fronts,” said Xi. He visited military units, academies, toured plateaus and borderlands, traveled in combat vehicles, boarded navy vessels, seeking opinions from personnel and encouraging them to speak their minds. For those who could not sufficiently express their opinions, Xi said they could submit their ideas to the leading group through relevant channels.
Chairman Xi has set himself as an example to promote democratic decision-making.
The research process sought feedback from leaders of major military units and the four headquarters and absorbed valuable suggestions; face-to-face talks sought opinions from more than 900 leaders and experts from the military and local governments, both on active service and retired; surveys on major issues involved more than 2,165 senior officers above brigade, division and army levels; an Internet platform was set up to seek submissions on the reforms from all sectors, and received more than 3,400 submissions from personnel….
During the formulation of the reform blueprint, another three rounds of consultations were carried out to hear from senior leaders and retired leaders of the CMC as well as those in major units and the four headquarters. Some 257 submissions were received and more than 150 adjustments were made to the plan.
Chairman Xi and the CMC’s determination, concrete measures and the extensive opportunities for airing views encouraged the whole army to participate. Some made submissions directly; some wrote letters; some posted their ideas online…. The troops contributed their suggestions in various ways, laying a solid foundation for the “greatest common denominator” of the reforms.
—— To remodel and recreate, one must plan scientifically. To solve difficult problems, one needs scientific methods.
On Jan. 27, 2015, Xi presided over the second meeting of the CMC reform leading group in Zhongnanhai, at which the draft reform plan was mapped out.
“Our policies and measures must be deliberated and scientifically assessed again and again before they are carried out,” said Xi, adding the policies must be in line with reality, feasible and practical in the long-term. “The policies can not change often,” said Xi. At his urging, the process from research to the draft always reflected the thought of scientific innovation.
The Academy of Military Sciences (AMS) and the National Defense University have been given full play as think-tanks. They were respectively given research and deliberation tasks for the reform. The AMS also shouldered several study projects, such as “innovation of the socialist military system with Chinese characteristics”, “deepening military structure modernization” and “building a military power system with Chinese characteristics.”
The CMC reform office developed a management simulation system, creating a digital information data service system and providing IT support for work flows in line with contemporary management concepts, and big data on reform research.
Special topics come first, then it is synthetic; democracy comes first, then centralization. The combination of leaders’ decisions and experts’ assistance as well as the combination of drawing lessons from others and the reality of the PLA, coupled with legacy, innovation, breakthrough, gradual improvement, the unity of reason and feasibility have helped. The gradual progress of the reform plan is also attributable to careful research from home and abroad, coordination, opinion-seeking and simulation.
Reform is as much a choice as it is innovation, coming early to established structures. In November 2014, Xi signed the order to merge the PLA audit office, formerly under the leadership of the General Logistics Department, into the CMC, marking an audit system reform. Xi also approved regulations such as qualifications of combat officers, creating a systematic requirement for a strong military and qualified officers. The adoption of military expenditure-measured performance introduced a plan-oriented approach to resources allocation.
After the reform plan was initially formed, the CMC reform office and relevant working teams conducted simulations on leadership command system reform to test the plan and find potential and prevent the emergence of problems before they formed.
--- If the army and the people work with one mind, its effect will be like a blade that can cut gold. It is a national strategy to deepen defense and military reforms, so the will of the state is needed and the strength of the whole nation must be harnessed.
On Aug. 29, 2014, the political bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a seminar on new international military trends and innovation in China’s armed forces. Xi pointed out that the seminar would raise the awareness of the whole Party of the military and national defense, and military building and preparation, and strengthen their responsibility for national defense and military reforms.
The reforms concern the whole situation and command the attention of the whole nation. From inside and outside the military, from central to local levels, all regions and all departments have greatly supported the research, study and planning work, with the Party, the government and the people cooperating on the great project.
The National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense have actively participated in military-civilian integration research and discussion. The Central Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security have studied the management and protection of retired soldiers. Local leaders from Shaanxi, Liaoning, Shandong and Hubei offered constructive face-to-face opinions on provincial military area command reform and logistics reform. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC, the Committee of Political and Legal Affairs under the CPC Central Committee, the State Commission Office for Public Sector Reform, the National Government Offices Administration and other central agencies provided reports on the leadership management and joint command system reform….
Night after night, the lights of the CMC reform office remained burning. Feedback and suggestions from all fronts have injected vitality into the reform plan.
Discussion, study, modification, more discussion, study and adjustment…. The focus of the plan is more pronounced, its thread clearer and measures more practical.
Chairman Xi has reviewed every version of the plan, the detail in every article, every sentence and every word. Xi has offered many guiding suggestions and personally made some important alterations.
It is like the line in a poem: “Though panning for gold thousands of times is arduous, finally finding gold is rewarding.”
Under the strong leadership of Xi and the CMC, the reform plan came out after 21 months of research, discussions and drafts. The contents are a set of measures to tackle China’s structural barriers, with major innovative breakthroughs and reform strategies with the characteristics of China’s armed forces.
On July 14, 2015, Xi presided over the third plenary meeting of the CMC reform leading group and they reviewed and passed the plan. On July 22 and July 29, Xi presided over a CMC meeting and a CPC Central Committee political bureau standing committee meeting respectively and reviewed the plan. On Oct. 16, Xi presided over another CMC meeting and passed the leadership management reform plan….
And then on Sept. 3, 2015, beneath the blue skies of Beijing, the flags flew high.
“I now declare that China will cut troop numbers by 300,000,” Xi announced at the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the world war against Fascism. The message spread rapidly around the whole world.
It fully reflected the Chinese people’s will for peaceful development.
It was also a solemn announcement the people’s army would strengthen itself through reforms.
