Name: China’s Xi Jinping Gets New War Powers
Uploaded: 2021-06-22T15:18:53.000Z
Duration: 11 min 19 s
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Welcome to China Uncensored. I'm Chris Chappell.  Support the show by hitting that like button,  

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The new year! is A time for new beginnings. And  what is Chinese leader Xi Jinping's New Year's  

resolution? You guessed it! He's going to cement  his hold over the military with new war powers!

Weight Watchers was a close second. Followed  by organizing a cross-strait family reunion.  

Everyone in Taiwan is invited! The  reunion will be at your place. 

But let's talk about Xi Jinping's new war powers.  

A revised national defense law went  into effect in China on January 1st.

And that law means that China's military  is taking charge of more war powers. 

What powers? Well the powers of  global justice of course—according  

to my favorite state-run media The Global Times.

It's all about global justice  and “safeguarding world peace.”

Because there's no better way to safeguard  world peace than to give the Chinese Communist  

Party more military control. And that's  what this national defense law does. 

“Revisions to the National Defence Law...weaken  the role of the State Council in formulating  

military policy, handing decision-making  powers to the Central Military Commission.”

And guess who's in charge of  the Central Military Commission?

Giving this military policy decision-making  power from the State Council  

to the Central Military Commission is big.

According to one military law expert,  “The [Central Military Commission] is now  

formally in charge of making national  defence policy and principles, while  

the State Council becomes a mere implementing  agency to provide support to the military.”

The State Council is part of China's Central  Government. It's headed by Premier Li Keqiang.

Meanwhile, the Central Military Commission  is under the Chinese Communist Party.  

Ok, technically there is also a Central  Military Commission under the government,  

also headed by Xi Jinping. But the Party  version is the actual one in charge. 

So with the Party's Central Military  Commission in charge of making defense policy,  

this new law strengthens  the Chinese Communist Party  

and helps Xi Jinping consolidate  more power over the military. 

Although Xi has been purging the military  to consolidate his power for years.

Now is a good time to remind everyone  that the Chinese military, the  

People's Liberation Army, belongs  to the Chinese Communist Party.  

This is not the Chinese government's  military. It's the Communist Party's military.

And with this latest change  to the law, the government has  

less control over the PLA than it previously had.  

Although in some ways, this law isn't giving  the Chinese Communist Party new powers.  

It's just reaffirming the powers that the Party  has already taken. I'll explain a bit later. 

But don't worry, the Communist Party  is here to safeguard world peace.

And I'll show you what that means after the break.

Welcome back. The Chinese Communist Party  is here to safeguard world peace...using  

Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with  Chinese Characteristics for a New Era  

as the guiding thought over China's  national defense activities!

If this national defense law change is giving you  some General Hostility vibes, you're not alone.

That's my favorite soap opera about the Party's  factional infighting. And it's getting pretty  

intense. I can't wait for the next episode.  You never know who's going to get purged next!

Ok, sometimes you know who's  going to get purged next.

Anyway, back to the national defense law.  I don't want to give you the impression  

that the new law is just about  giving Xi Jinping new war powers. 

It's also about protecting China's development  interests, according to the Global Times.

Specifically, the law states that China should  mobilize its defense “when China's sovereignty,  

unification, territorial integrity, security  and development interests are threatened.”

“Development interests” is a new addition there.  So what are China's development interests exactly?

According to the Global Times,  development interests could involve  

economic interests, like overseas investments.

Hmmm, sounds like US tariffs could be considered  a threat to China's development interests. 

And development interests definitely  involve Taiwan. Because if “the Taiwan  

question remains unresolved,” that will  impair China's development interests.

Yeah there's only one way that the Chinese  Communist Party is planning to “resolve”  

the Taiwan question. It's family reunion  time! Starting with a trip to the beach. 

But on the whole, development  interests seem to be anything  

that involves China's development as defined  by the Chinese Communist Party. It's meant  

to be really broad. Basically it could  cover anything that's not already covered  

by China's sovereignty, unification,  territorial integrity, and security.

For example, China's Belt and Road  Initiative investments in other countries  

could be considered development interests.

So is the national defense law saying  that the People's Liberation Army could  

be mobilized in other countries to  defend the Belt and Road? Yes, it is.

In fact, “China has been completely forthright  

in developing an explicit military  agenda to support the Belt and Road.”

Including “pursuing a strong naval force as the  logical corollary to its 'development interests.'”

Is anyone in the Pentagon paying attention  to this? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

You know what else is part of  China's development interests?  

Its military-civil fusion program. That's  where Chinese companies and universities are  

encouraged to develop technology that  has both civilian and military uses.  

And that's something that's emphasized  in this new national defense law, too.

Specifically, state owned and private  enterprises need to research conventional  

weapons, plus weapons related to cyber  warfare, space and electromagnetics.”

So the Chinese Communist Party is doubling  down on their military-civil fusion.  

And it's looking to get even more Chinese  companies involved. That includes both state-owned  

enterprises and private companies. Which, of  course, makes those companies not totally private.

This is happening just as the Trump  administration has issued executive  

orders to prevent US investors  from investing in these companies. 

But at this rate, all Chinese companies  are going to be military-linked companies.

And the Trump administration's actions are  a threat to China's development interests.

Speaking of military-civil fusion,  the new national defense law also  

says that everyone should get involved in  national defense, not just the military. 

“The revised law makes it clear that  all state organs and armed forces,  

political parties and people's groups,  enterprises and public institutions,  

social organizations and  organizations of other types  

should support national defense and  participate in its development.”

And just like the definition of China's  “development interests” is really broad,  

so is the definition of national defense. Could  “enterprises and public institutions” be ordered  

to steal research from foreign companies and  universities to support China's national defense? 

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China’s Xi Jinping Gets New War Powers

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