Integrity Score 390
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Dragon’s Teeth and Dragon’s Brain continues....
Undoubtedly the nerve-centre of the entire PLA structure is the pinnacle of the pyramid, the Central Military Commission (CMC). It is an organ of the Chinese Communist Party, a formally-constituted
body of generally nine members at present, a number of them ex-officio,
including the Minister of Defence, a serving marshal or general, and the heads of the General Departments of the PLA HQ, for example.
It is always headed by a powerful civilian political leader, as the CMC
Chairman, and has three Vice-Chairmen, of whom only one may be a
senior civilian leader. The CMC is composed of PLA senior leaders who
could be of any of the service branches, such as the PLAAF or PLAN,
or a commander such as a Theatre Commander. There may be only one
civilian on the CMC, the Chairman, and there is unlikely to be ever
more than two.
The CMC Chairman is currently Xi Jinping, who is also the
President of the PRC. Also the CCP General Secretary and the
President of the PRC, thus holding the three most powerful posts in the
PRC at the same time. The Chairman of the CMC is the Commander
in Chief of the PRC’s armed forces, and through it controls all Chinese
military activities. The PLARF is under the CMC’s direct vertical
command.
The CMC’s only ‘equivalent’ in India can be taken to be the
Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), but the difference between
them is so vast, that they can hardly be considered equivalent. The CCS
is composed solely of civilian non-professionals, who may call upon the
Chief of Defence Staff (CDF) and one or more, or all the three chiefs of
the armed services to attend, not participate, but the presence of the
professionals is not mandatory, as they are not members of the CCS.
The CMC is always headed by the topmost person of the CCP, always a
civilian, and all the other members are military professionals even
though they are normally senior CCP members themselves. Some of
them are on other senior CCP bodies in addition to the CMC.
To be continued.....