Civil-Military Relations in the People s Republic of China
Wei-Chin Lee
Leiden
Brill
A recurrent theme in China studies is the influence of the military in power politics and the extent to which its particular interests are under civilian control. Since Deng's resurgence to power, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) seems to have fallen into disfavor, but a reexamination of civil-military relations in the PRC shows that the situation is complex. Deng's many military reforms have hardly created an apolitical professional military and the PLA still plays a significant role in Chinese politics. At the same time, because of Deng's reforms and the particular nature of Party-military relationships in China, military takeover of the Communist Party authority remains unlikely.