Minister of National Defense of the People's Republic of China | |
---|---|
中华人民共和国国防部部长 | |
Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China | |
Status | Provincial-Ministerial level official |
Member of | State Council |
Reports to | Central Military Commission |
Seat | Beijing |
Nominator | Premier (chosen within the Chinese Communist Party) |
Appointer | President with the confirmation of the National People's Congress or its Standing Committee |
Precursor | Minister of National Defense of the Republic of China |
Formation | 28 September 1954 |
First holder | Peng Dehuai |
Website | eng |
The Minister of National Defense of the People's Republic of China is the head of the Ministry of National Defense and one of the top positions in the State Council. The minister usually is also a member of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and a member of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the top governing body of China's armed forces including the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
Armed Forces of the People's Republic of China |
---|
Executive departments |
Staff |
Services |
Independent troops |
Special operations force |
Other troops |
Military districts |
History of the Chinese military |
Military ranks of China |
Unlike in other countries, the minister does not have command authority over the armed forces, with the post generally used for diplomatic purposes. Nevertheless, the post has always been held by a member of the CMC.
Historically, both the position and the ministry carried greater power. [2] In the first decades of the PRC, the ministry included several more departments. all overseen by vice ministers. The minister was held by influential generals, including Peng Dehuai, Lin Biao and Ye Jianying. [2] The ministry was reformed into its current state in the 1982 constitutional revision. Between 1982 and 2008, the minister usually concurrently served as a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, and was usually a member of the Politburo. After 2008, holders of the position stopped serving concurrently as a CMC vice chair, further weakening the position. [2]
Officially, the minister is nominated by the premier of the State Council, who is then approved by the National People's Congress or its Standing Committee and appointed by the president. [3]
The military is under the governance of the CMC, putting the Ministry of National Defense out of the chain of command, [4] the minister is significantly less powerful than his counterparts from other countries, and has no direct command function over the military. [5] The post is generally seen as a diplomatic and ceremonial role, with the minister handling military-to-military ties with other countries. [6] However, the office has always been held by a member of the CMC. [7] Though the minister has historically been assisted by vice ministers, the ministry currently has no vice ministers. [2]
No. | Portrait | Minister | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Defence branch |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Marshal Peng Dehuai 彭德怀 (1898–1974) | 28 September 1954 | 17 September 1959 | 4 years, 201 days | PLA Ground Force | |
2 | Lin Biao 林彪 (1907–1971) | Marshal17 September 1959 | 13 September 1971 | 12 years, 149 days | PLA Ground Force | |
Vacant 13 September 1971–17 January 1975 | ||||||
3 | Ye Jianying 叶剑英 (1897–1986) | Marshal17 January 1975 | 26 February 1978 | 3 years, 40 days | PLA Ground Force | |
4 | Xu Xiangqian 徐向前 (1901–1990) | Marshal26 February 1978 | 6 March 1981 | 2 years, 345 days | PLA Ground Force | |
5 | Geng Biao 耿飚 (1909–2000) | 6 March 1981 | 19 November 1982 | 1 year, 105 days | Formerly PLA Ground Force | |
6 | General Zhang Aiping 张爱萍 (1910–2003) | 19 November 1982 | 12 April 1988 | 5 years, 145 days | PLA Ground Force | |
7 | Qin Jiwei 秦基伟 (1914–1997) | General12 April 1988 | 29 March 1993 | 4 years, 351 days | PLA Ground Force | |
8 | Chi Haotian 迟浩田 (born 1929) | General29 March 1993 | 17 March 2003 | 9 years, 353 days | PLA Ground Force | |
9 | Cao Gangchuan 曹刚川 (born 1935) | General17 March 2003 | 17 March 2008 | 5 years, 0 days | PLA Ground Force | |
10 | Liang Guanglie 梁光烈 (born 1940) | General17 March 2008 | 16 March 2013 | 5 years, 0 days | PLA Ground Force | |
11 | Chang Wanquan 常万全 (born 1949) | General16 March 2013 | 19 March 2018 | 5 years, 3 days | PLA Ground Force | |
12 | Wei Fenghe 魏凤和 (born 1954) | General19 March 2018 | 12 March 2023 | 4 years, 358 days | PLA Rocket Force | |
13 | Li Shangfu 李尚福 (born 1958) | General12 March 2023 | 24 October 2023 | 226 days | PLA Strategic Support Force | |
Vacant 24 October 2023–29 December 2023 | ||||||
14 | Dong Jun 董军 (born 1961) | Admiral29 December 2023 | Incumbent | 102 days | PLA Navy |
The State Council of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Central People's Government, is the chief administrative authority and the national cabinet of China. It is constitutionally the highest administrative organ of the country and the executive organ of the National People's Congress, the highest organ of state power. It is composed of the premier, vice premiers, state councilors, ministers of ministries, directors of committees, the auditor general, and the secretary-general.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the principal military force of the People's Republic of China. The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, Rocket Force, and Strategic Support Force. It is under the leadership of the Central Military Commission (CMC) with its chairman as commander-in-chief.
The Central Military Commission (CMC) is the highest national defense organization in the People's Republic of China, which heads the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the People's Armed Police (PAP), and the Militia of China.
A commander-in-chief or supreme commander is the person who exercises supreme command and control over an armed force or a military branch. As a technical term, it refers to military competencies that reside in a country's executive leadership, a head of state, head of government, or other designated government official.
The orders of precedence in China is the ranking of political leaders in China for the purposes of event protocol and to arrange the ordering of names in official news bulletins, both written and televised. It is also sometimes used to assess perceived level of political power. Although there is no formally published ranking, there is usually an established convention and protocol, and the relative positions of Chinese political figures can usually be deduced from the order in meetings and especially by the time and order in which figures are covered by the official media. Since 1982, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party has been the highest-ranking official in the People's Republic of China (PRC).
The government of the People's Republic of China is based on a system of people's congress within the parameters of a unitary communist state, in which the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) enacts its policies through people's congresses. This system is based on the principle of unified state power, in which the legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), is constitutionally enshrined as "the highest state organ of power." As China's political system has no separation of powers, there is only one branch of government which is represented by the legislature. The CCP through the NPC enacts unified leadership, which requires that all state organs, from the Supreme People's Court to the President of the People's Republic of China, are elected by, answerable to, and have no separate powers than those granted to them by the NPC. By law, all elections at all levels must adhere to the leadership of the CCP. The CCP controls appointments in all state bodies through a two-thirds majority in the NPC. The remaining seats are held by nominally independent delegates and eight minor political parties, which are non-oppositional and support the CCP. All government bodies and state-owned enterprises have internal CCP committees that lead the decision-making in these institutions.
Chi Haotian, also spelled as Chih Hao-tien, is a retired general of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. He served as Minister of National Defence from 1993 to 2003.
The chairman of the Central Military Commission is the head of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and the commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the People's Armed Police (PAP) and the Militia. The officeholder is additionally vested with the command authority over China's nuclear arsenals.
The National Defence Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (NDC) was the highest state institution for military and national defence leadership in North Korea, which also served as the highest governing institution of the country from 1998 until 2016 when it was replaced by the State Affairs Commission.
The national security of China is the coordination of a variety of organizations, including law enforcement, military, paramilitary, governmental, and intelligence agencies that aim to ensure China's national security. China considers three factors in its national security: national sovereignty, security, and development interests.
The Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea (CMC) is an organ of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) which heads the Korean People's Army (KPA).
The National Defense Mobilization Commission is an organization under the State Council of the People's Republic of China and the Central Military Commission responsible for coordinating decisions concerning military affairs, strategic plans and defense mobilization. It is responsible for bringing together civic resources in the event of a war, and coordinating these efforts with military operations. The commission is usually chaired by the Premier of the People's Republic of China. It was established by the "National Defense Mobilization Law" in November 1994.
The Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China, or the "National Defense Ministry" for short, is the second-ranked constituent department under the State Council. It is headed by the Minister of National Defense.
Wei Fenghe is a retired general in the People's Liberation Army who served as commander of the PLA Rocket Force, formerly known as the Second Artillery Corps. From 2018 to 2023, he was the Minister of National Defence, the first to have not come from the PLA Ground Forces and the first-ranked State Councilor in Li Keqiang Cabinet II from March 2018 to March 2023, and also the first-ranked ordinary Member of the Xi Jinping-chaired Central Military Commission.
The Vice Chairmen of the Central Military Commission are deputies to the chairman of the Central Military Commission. Currently, two generals of the People's Liberation Army are serving as vice chairmen: first-ranked vice chairman Zhang Youxia and second-ranked vice chairman He Weidong. According to military regulations, the vice chairmen are granted the rank of general by the virtue of their posts.
The President of the People's Republic of China, commonly called the President of China, is the state representative of the People's Republic of China, which on its own is a ceremonial office and has no real power in China's political system. However, since 1993, the post has been held by the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission, who is China's de facto leader.
Liu Zhanqi is a former officer of the Chinese People's Armed Police. He was investigated by the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Central Military Commission (CMCCDI) in November 2014 and his case was handed over to military prosecutors in May 2015. Previously he served as chief of the People's Armed Police traffic command.
The National Day Parade, officially the National Day of the People's Republic of China Parade, is a civil-military parade event held at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China, on the National Day of the People's Republic of China on 1 October. It is organized by the People's Liberation Army, the People's Armed Police and the Militia, as well as civilian groups of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It has been held every decade since 1959, annually from 1950 to 1959, and has been broadcast live on China Central Television since 1984.
Pak Jong-chon is a North Korean Marshal who is a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).
Dong Jun is a Chinese admiral (shangjiang) of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLA) who has served as the 14th Minister of National Defense since December 2023.