Xi reminds the People’s Liberation Army that his is the absolute authority
Tom Rogan
The two top officers in command of China‘s nuclear forces have both been replaced without explanation. The respective political commissar and operational commander of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, the two men held key military positions.
Their summary dismissals are yet another indication of Xi Jinping‘s desperation, sometimes paranoid, to ensure the PLA’s unquestioned loyalty to his person. An article in the official PLA newspaper emphasized as much on Wednesday. With propaganda posters attached, the PLA Daily explained why “The Party’s absolute leadership over the Army is the foundation of the People’s Army and the soul of a strong army.”
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The newspaper noted that “The key to absolute loyalty to the party lies in the word ‘absolutely,’ ensuring that the gun is always in the hands of those who are loyal and reliable to the party. The officers and soldiers of the entire army must … must be highly conscious politically, ideologically, and in action, and unswervingly follow the instructions of the Party Central Committee, the Central Military Commission, and Chairman Xi.”
This linkage of political power and the gun is a play to Mao Zedong’s observation that “every Communist must grasp the truth, ‘political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.'”
The editorial suggested that “the absolute leadership of the party over the army is the soul and lifeblood of our army, which can never be changed or lost.” It called for PLA personnel to ensure their “implementation of Xi Jinping’s thought on strengthening the army … Listen to Chairman Xi’s command, be responsible to Chairman Xi, and let Chairman Xi rest assured.”
Here we see the stark, indeed defining, difference between the United States military and the PLA.
U.S. military personnel swear an oath to uphold the Constitution and to follow the orders of the president. But the president’s authority extends only so far as his orders are lawful and only via his Constitutional authority as commander in chief. In contrast, Xi has made himself a de facto absolute monarch. The political incarnation of the modern Chinese Communist Party, and having purged any who question or are seen to question his political incarnation, Xi is the PLA’s absolute commander.
Our recognition of this reality is critical for three reasons.
First, it underlines how Xi’s command authority is unencumbered by anything except his doubts at any one moment (hello, Taiwan). Second, it shows the deep sensitivity of Xi and those around him to the risk that the Chinese people and the PLA might one day question their supremacy. Third, it encapsulates the stakes of the struggle for global leadership in the 21st century.
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That latter point matters the most. For all its faults, the U.S. is bound to the advancement of human freedom and political accountability under the democratic rule of law. In contrast, Communist China is bound only to what Xi wants.
And what Xi wants might not always be what the rest of us want.