The notion that the PLA has been 'professionalizing' over the past 20 years is misleading; the party does not want a Huntingtonian apolitical, politically neutral military, and Xi has explicitly emphasized that the PLA is the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party as its primary mission, squashing any nascent debate about a national or state military.
factualpending
Speaker
JohnEvidence Quote
“there's this notion casual notion that floats around sometimes that the PLA over the last 20 years or so has been professionalizing... I think that's kind of not quite right.”
Created: 6/18/2026, 1:57:49 PM
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