Communist party Central Military Commission strengthen its control over PLA through reforms
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BEIJING: According to the new reforms recently announced by President Xi Jinping, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) should soon be out of business. Under the new rules, ‘PLA Inc’ will stop its song and dance, hospitals and other profit-making activities. Yang Yujun, the Ministry of National Defense’s spokesman told a press briefing: “Bringing a full end to the PLA’s paid services to external parties will purify the military ethos and maintain the nature and the true colour of the people’s army.” This may change. For the defence forces which represent the most traditional segment of the Chinese society, the new catchword is ‘reforms’. Beijing seems decided to shake up the PLA’s different branches by establishing a joint operational command structure by 2020 and reducing the existing Military Areas Commands (MACs) from 7 to 4. In a long speech carried by Xinhua, the Chinese President gave a rather detailed report on the planned reforms. He also reiterated his September pledge to cut by 300,000, the number of the ground forces. Xi asserted: "Under the leadership of the Communist Party, our military has gone from small to big, from weak to strong, from victory to victory. On this road, reform and innovation steps have never stopped.” (Xinhua News)
