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CHAIRMAN XI
REMAKES THE PLA
Joel Wuthnow and Phillip C. Saunders
I
ntegral to Xi Jinping’s vision of restoring China to greatness—what he
defines as the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” [zhonghua
minzu weida fuxing, 中华民族伟大复兴]—is building a more modern,
capable, and disciplined military. China’s economic development, territorial
integrity, and even the survival of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
itself cannot be guaranteed without an army that can fight and prevail in
modern warfare. Articulating the need for a stronger military, Xi and his
colleagues have reflected on periods of Chinese weakness, such as the era
of imperial decline in the late 19
th
century and the Japanese occupation in
the 1930s and 1940s. In Xi’s words, a “nation’s backwardness in military
affairs has a profound influence on a nation’s security. I often peruse the
annals of modern Chinese history and feel heartbroken at the tragic scenes
of us being beaten because of our ineptitude.”
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Such humiliations, in his
view, should never be repeated.
Xi’s ambition to reshape and modernize the People’s Liberation Army
(PLA) has been apparent from his early days as CCP general secretary and
Central Military Commission (CMC) chairman. At the third plenum of the
18
th
Party Congress, held in October 2013, Xi and other Party elites declared
INTRODUCTION
