The Power of the Chinese Military

The strength of the military has always played the major role in determining the political outcome of China.

The Early Chinese Republic:

In the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), many civilian protests emerged against the imperial regime. Qing leaders needed the support of regional warlord generals throughout the country to defeat these groups, such as the Nian Rebels, the White Lotus Rebels and rebels from the Taiping Army.

One of these military leaders was Yuan Shikai, who would align with the Qing, then turn against them to broker an alliance with the revolutionaries to become the first President of China. The 1911 Revolution would create the first republican government in China, but increasing factionalism by warlord infighting continued to weaken the newfound Chinese Republic.

Sun Yatsen and General Chiang Consolidate Power:

Military power continued to play a vital role after Chinese Republican leader Sun Yatsen consolidated power and established the Whampoa Military Academy to train a new army in 1924. In charge of the cadets was General Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang would use his power over the cadets and those loyal to him in coercive acts and intelligence gathering. Chiang took control of the Nationalist Party following the death of Sun in 1925.

But Chiang would still need warlord military support in north China to fight off the communists, and enlisted the help of warlord and ruler Zhang Xue Liang in North China. Zhang was a strong leader, but felt the more important threat towards China wasn’t the communists, but invaders from Japan. Zhang would use his role as a general in the Nationalist Army to stage a coup and force Chiang into a truce with the communists to fight off the Japanese.

Under the truce, the Chinese Communist Party would align with the Nationalists to form the 8th Route Army, a well trained guerilla force that was able to severely undermine Japanese militarization of North China. But after the war with Japan ended, Chiang, still bent on defeating the communists, again aligned with warlords in the south in his Northern Expedition to force the communists into a retreat.

Eventually, a stronger CCP army, trained in fighting the Japanese alongside the Nationalists, would emerge to defeat the Nationalists.

The People’s Republic of China:

Armies continued to play a significant role in the formation of the People’s Liberation Army. Mao Zedong purged Defense Minister Peng Dehuai after he criticized Mao’s Great Leap Forward policy in 1959. The possibility that the People’s Liberation Army would oppose Mao’s leadership was too great.

Peng was replaced by Lin Biao who then instituted propaganda policies aimed at soldiers and the public including the carrying of Mao’s Little Red Book of quotations and the campaign to learn form Lei Feng, a famed -- and possibly fictional -- PLA soldier known for doing altruistic deeds. Through these means, Mao was able to consolidate military power and take back control from party bureaucrats. Having military support was vital for Mao in the Cultural Revolution.

Modern China:

After Mao’s death in 1976, it was Deng Xiaoping’s alignment with the PLA that allowed him to defeat the Gang of Four and emerge as Mao’s successor. Control of the military allowed Deng to order tanks into Tiananmen Square to squash protests in 1989.

China’s history has shown that whoever could control the military, would control China. Yet this power has continued to prove a double-edged sword, as maintaining that power often alienates those that are needed to retain it. It’s a precarious balance that all of China’s leaders have tried to maneuver.