Editor’s Note: This is an article published on Xinhuanet.com Website at the end of 2004. For the Chinese communist regime, giving up control over the army is equivalent to giving up its reign over the Chinese people. In the recent years, there have been different voices demanding for the nationalization of the Army from civilians, even from within the Army, but the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would make no concession in this aspect. The following is the translation for the Xinhuanet.com news article. [1]
“The [Chinese Communist] Party Controlling the Gun” is the Demarcation Line between Our Army and the Armies of Capitalist Countries
[Xinhuanet.com News Center, Beijing, December 25th, 2004] The Resolution released at the 4th Plenary Session of the 16th CCP Central Committee mandates: “Adhere to the Party’s absolute leadership of the Army; always put the ideological and political education in the forefront as top priority in order to maintain forever the nature, the unique characteristics and the style of the People’s Army.” The Resolution provided guidance for us to improve the Party’s capability in managing the Army. The Party’s absolute leadership over the Army is the never ever-changing spirit of our army as well as a unique political advantage. It is also the demarcation line between our army and any other armies in capitalist countries.
People’s Liberation Army of China is the People’s Army established by and under the absolute leadership of the Chinese Communist Party; it is an armed force serving to carry out the political tasks of the Party. The principle of adhering to the Party’s absolute leadership, which was the foundation upon which the Army was created, had been formed and gradually been fully developed by the Party on the basis of its scientific understanding of the objective principles of China’s revolutionary struggles.
To adhere to the Party’s absolute leadership over the Army is, most fundamentally, to firmly uphold the banner [of the Party leadership], to support the core [of the Party], to keep consistent with the CCP Central Committee in ideology and political views, to strictly follow the instructions from the CCP Central Committee, and to firmly uphold the authority of the CCP Central Committee led by Comrade Hu Jintao as Secretary-General. This is the highest political discipline of our army, as well as the fundamental requirement to ensure the Party’s absolute leadership over the Army.
To adhere to the Party’s absolute leadership over the Army, we must firmly take Mao Zedong’s military ideology and Deng’s ideology of military development in the new era as our guidance, and fully implement the important ideology of the “three represents.” We must persevere in taking the ideology of the “three represents” as the important guiding ideology in leading and developing the military, making sure it is carried out in all aspects of the development of the Party Committees within the Army, and implementing it in all activities of the Army’s preparation for military battles. We must do so to truly resolve the two historical tasks: always winning the battles and never changing the nature of the Army. It is the basic ideological guarantee to ensure the Party’s absolute leadership of the Army.{mospagebreak}
To adhere to the Party’s absolute leadership over the Army, we must firmly resist the wrong ideological trends such as “Separating the Army from the Party,” “Depoliticize the Army” and “Nationalization of the Army.” We must further strengthen the Party’s absolute leadership and discipline ourselves in this respect.
To adhere to the Party’s absolute leadership over the Army, we must firmly uphold and improve the fundamental principle of the Party’s leadership over the Army, which mainly includes: (1) the ultimate leadership and chain of command is under the CCP Central Committee and the Central Military Committee. The CCP Central Committee is the top leadership and decision-making regime, and the Central Military Committee is the Party’s top leadership body inside the Army. (2) The Party establishes CCP committees at or above the regiment levels, and establishes the Party grass-root committees at the battalion level. The CCP committees at different levels are the core of leadership at each level. (3) According to the principle of democratic centralism, under the collective leadership of each CCP committee with committee members responsible for different portfolios and duties. (4) General Political Department is set up for the Army. At or above regiment levels, there are political commissar’s offices. (5) At the company level or equivalent, there are CCP branch committees which are the grass root regimes of the Party in the Army – the core of leadership at its level.
To adhere to the Party’s absolute leadership over the Army, we must stick to the practice of ideological and political education as top priority before any other agendas in the Army. It is the requirement to ensure that the Party will tightly control the Army in ideology and politics.
To adhere to the Party’s absolute leadership over the Army, we must continuously strengthen the development of CCP committees and cadres in the Army.
Endnote:
[1] Xinhua, December 25, 2004
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2004-12/25/content_2379107.htm