The status of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as the armed wing of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, as opposed to an army subject to civil authority, severely hampers its effectiveness despite drastic attempts by the Chinese regime to improve the PLA’s warfighting capabilities.
While the army may be subservient to the Party, both bodies enjoy privileges that, in practice, allow them to operate outside national law and oversight.
The predictable result is massive abuse of power, and as is the case with the Communist Party itself, corruption in the PLA has, especially in recent years, proved a rampant and potentially crippling habit among China’s officers.
Systemic corruption, born of the army and Party’s special status, remains to this day an unsolved Achilles’ heel that experts have said could severely hinder the force’s ability to fulfill its strategic and tactical objectives.
A Gun in the Wrong Hands
Mao Zedong is quoted in the “Little Red Book” as saying, “Power grows from the barrel of a gun.” He emphasizes the need for the Communist Party to maintain control over the gun, or military force.
As the military arm of the Chinese Communist Party, the PLA is subject to little oversight from civil government authorities, according to a recent report published by the National Security Research division of RAND, an American think tank.
