The PLA at Home and Abroad - Strategic Studies Institute - U.S. Army

24. Andrew Scobell put forward the concept of the PLA as a
nationalized military to analyze the long term trend of China’s
civil-military relations. See his article, “China’s Evolving Civil-
Military Relations: Creeping Guojiahua,” in Nan Li, ed., Chinese
Civil-Military Relations, London, UK: Routledge, 2006.
25. According to PLA sources, the PLA recruited 130,500
graduates from civilian university in 2009 alone. “Daily Military
Report,” PLA Channel, CCTV, December 22, 2009. The deputy
chief for military administration at GSD, Major General Chen
Dongdeng, revealed that the number of noncommissioned officers
in the PLA would reach 900,000 by the end of the current
reform of the non-commissioned officer system, which is about
half of its total personnel, making the PLA a truly professional
military. Focus on the reform of non-commissioned officer. See 军
事一周热点档案 (The weekly key issues for the PLA), No.2, July 2009.
26. Richard Kohn, “Out of Control: the Crisis in Civil-Military
Relations,” National Interest, Vol. 35, 1994, pp. 3-17.
27. Qiu Shenghong (邱圣宏), “论新时期我军坚持党对军队绝
对领导的基本经验” (“The basic lessons of Party absolute leadership
over the PLA in the new era”), 中国军队政治工作 (Political
work in Chinese Military), No. 10, 2008, p. 26.
28. Samuel Huntington, The Soldier and the State, Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1957.
29. For instance, Politburo members are not supposed to inspect
local PLA garrisons when they visit localities, and the local
military leaders are not requested to accompany them without the
specific instruction of the CMC General Office.
30. Mao reiterated this formula in a Politburo meeting in December
1972 that decided on the transfer of eight MR Commanders.
Interestingly, at a time of great political uncertainty, Mao
added that the PLA should also involve itself in political affairs.
解放军生活 (The PLA Life), August 20, 2009.
31. In 1975 Jiang Qing inspected a company of the 20th Army
in Zejiang without CMC approval, one of the serious crimes she
was charged with later. This has become a classic case to warn ci-
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