Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China

In October 1949, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, in accordance with the provisions of the "Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference" and the "Organic Law of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China", the People's Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central People's Government was established as the country's highest military leadership organ. , unified jurisdiction and command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and other armed forces. During this period, the highest leading body of the military was the People's Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central People's Government, chaired by Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Chairman of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China. The vice-chairmen include Communist Party members Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Peng Dehuai, and democratic party member Cheng Qian. The 28 members of the People's Revolutionary Military Commission include 21 Communist Party members and 7 democrats. After that, the original Chinese People's Revolutionary Military Commission stopped working, but still maintained the Party's absolute leadership over the military.

In September 1954, the First Session of the First National People's Congress adopted and promulgated the "Constitution of the People's Republic of China", which stipulated the establishment of the National Defense Commission of the People's Republic of China in the national system as an advisory and deliberative body. According to the institutional establishment plan of the State Council adopted by the National People's Congress, the Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China was established and included in the sequence of the State Council; the People's Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central People's Government was accordingly abolished.

In view of the establishment of the National Defense Commission in the national system, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee subsequently decided to establish the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China under the Political Bureau and Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee to lead the Chinese People's Liberation Army and other armed forces. Decisions on military work by the Political Bureau, the Secretariat and the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee can be issued through the internal system in the name of the "Military Commission" (referred to as the Military Commission). Orders and instructions that must be issued publicly can be issued in the name of the State Council or the Ministry of National Defense. The Minister of Defense is served by Peng Dehuai, who presides over the daily work of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China. Those originally titled "People's Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central People's Government" will all be renamed "Chinese People's Liberation Army", for example, "General Staff Department of the People's Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central People's Government" was renamed "General Staff Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army", etc. In November 1954, Huang Kecheng, Tan Zheng, Xiao Jinguang, Wang Shusheng, Xiao Ke, Li Da and Liao Hansheng were appointed as deputy ministers of defense.[2]

Following the model of the Soviet army, the People's Liberation Army established an eight-headquarters system, including the General Staff Department, the Training Directorate Department, the Armed Forces Supervision Department, the General Political Department, the General Cadre Department, the General Logistics Department, the General Finance Department, and the General Ordnance Department. However, since the Soviet Ministry of Defense was an entity, it had a superior-subordinate relationship with the Soviet military headquarters. Therefore, there is no experience for reference in how the Ministry of National Defense with Chinese characteristics operates. However, the Ministry of National Defense during this period still had great power. The Minister of Defense was directly responsible to the Chairman of the Central Military Commission and was basically the executive agency of the Central Military Commission. The Minister of Defense was also served by the Vice Chairman who presided over the work of the Central Military Commission. Although many leaders from the PLA headquarters were appointed as deputy ministers of defense, many conflicts arose between the then chiefs of general staff, Su Yu and Peng Dehuai, over how to coordinate the relationship between the general staff and the defense ministry. Many orders and instructions originally issued by the Military Commission and the headquarters required to be changed to the name of national defense deployment. There are no clear regulations on which ones should be released in the name of the Ministry of National Defense and which ones should not. Although the Military Commission tasked the General Staff to draft regulations on the responsibilities of the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff in March 1955, they were never passed. Until October 1958, Huang Kecheng, Secretary-General of the Military Commission and Deputy Minister of Defense, replaced Su Yu as Chief of General Staff.[3]

In July 1958, the "Resolution on Changing the Organizational System" passed by the enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China stipulated that the Central Military Commission is the military work department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the commanding agency that leads the entire army. The chairman of the Central Military Commission is the commander-in-chief of the entire army. The Ministry of National Defense is the external name of the Military Commission. Matters decided by the Military Commission that require approval from the State Council or that need to be issued in an administrative capacity shall be signed by the Minister of National Defense. The headquarters system under the leadership of the Central Military Commission still restores the three-headquarter structure of the General Staff, the General Political Department, and the General Logistics Department. At this time, Peng Dehuai was still the Minister of National Defense, and the Deputy Ministers were Huang Kecheng, Tan Zheng, Xiao Jinguang, Wang Shusheng, Liao Hansheng, and Su Yu.

After the Lushan Conference on September 26, 1959, Lin Biao began to preside over the daily work of the Central Military Commission and served as Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission and Minister of Defense. Luo Ruiqing serves as Secretary-General of the Central Military Commission and Chief of General Staff, presides over the Central Military Commission's office meetings and is responsible for the daily work of the Central Military Commission. The number of deputy ministers of defense has been expanded to 11: Luo Ruiqing, Tan Zheng, Xiao Jinguang, Wang Shusheng, Liao Hansheng, Su Yu, Chen Geng, Xu Guangda, Xu Shiyou, and Liu Yalou. At this time, the deputy minister of defense was concurrently held by the leaders of the headquarters, services, and military regions, almost becoming a "replica" of the Central Military Commission, and the power of the secretary-general of the Central Military Commission was also increasingly "expanded." After October 1956, under the name of the Ministry of National Defense, scientific research institutions such as the Fifth Research Institute, the Sixth Research Institute, the Seventh Research Institute, and the Tenth Research Institute of the Ministry of National Defense were successively established, as well as scientific research leading departments such as the National Defense Science Committee.

In September 1963, He Long, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, presided over the daily work of the Central Military Commission, but the post of Defense Minister was still held by Lin Biao, and Luo Ruiqing continued to serve as Secretary-General of the Military Commission. After November 1965, Luo Ruiqing was relieved of all posts, and Lin Biao resumed presiding over the daily work of the Central Military Commission. Yang Chengwu, deputy secretary-general of the Central Military Commission and deputy chief of the general staff, acted as chief of the general staff and director of the General Office of the Central Military Commission. However, Yang Chengwu was not appointed as Deputy Minister of Defense.

After the Cultural Revolution began in May 1966, the normal work of the Central Military Commission was greatly affected. During this period, the daily work of the Central Military Commission was handled successively by the Central Military Commission office meeting and the Central Military Commission working group. The "Resolution on Changing the Organizational System" passed by the enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission in July 1958 will no longer be implemented. The military directly uses the name of "Central Military Commission" externally, and the "Ministry of Defense" will no longer appear.

On September 13, 1971, then Defense Minister Lin Biao defected abroad and his official plane crashed over Mongolia. All people on board died.

The new "Constitution of the People's Republic of China" adopted in 1975 and 1978 stipulates that the armed forces of the People's Republic of China are commanded by the Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the country has no longer established a National Defense Commission. In January 1975, the first session of the Fourth National People's Congress appointed Ye Jianying as Minister of National Defense, and Deputy Ministers Su Yu and Xu Shiyou. In March 1978, the first session of the Fifth National People's Congress appointed Xu Xiangqian as the Minister of National Defense, but did not appoint another Deputy Minister of National Defense. In January 1980, Yang Dezhi and Xiao Ke were appointed deputy ministers of defense. In March 1981, Geng Biao, Secretary-General of the Central Military Commission, was appointed Minister of National Defense (in July 1981, Yang Shangkun was appointed Secretary-General of the Central Military Commission). During this period, the name "Minister of Defense" began to be used again in military and diplomatic activities. On New Year's Day in 1979, an order was also issued in the name of Defense Minister Xu Xiangqian, and Fujian frontline troops stopped shelling the islands such as Greater Kinmen, Little Kinmen, Dadan, and Erdan. However, in more cases, the name of the Central Military Commission is still used directly, such as various public announcements and orders issued during the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam.

In September 1982, the Constitution of the People's Republic of China (1982) adopted by the Fifth Session of the Fifth National People's Congress stipulated that the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China should be established to lead the country's armed forces. The Central Military Commission implements the chairman responsibility system. The chairman is elected or removed by the National People's Congress and is responsible to the National People's Congress and the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. At the same time, the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China continues to exist, and its functions are exactly the same as those of the State Military Commission. This shows that the Central Military Commission has two names at the same time: one is the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, and the other is the Central Military Commission of the country. This established a national defense leadership system in which the party and the state exercise leadership powers in a highly centralized and unified manner. The State Council establishes the Ministry of National Defense, and all military work that needs to be handled by the Central People's Government, the highest state administrative organ, will be implemented through the Ministry of National Defense or in the name of the Ministry of National Defense after the State Council makes corresponding decisions. The Ministry of National Defense accepts the leadership of the Central Military Commission while accepting the leadership of the State Council. Matters that need to be handled by the Ministry of National Defense will be handled by the Joint Staff Department, Political Work Department, Logistics Support Department, National Defense Mobilization Department and other departments of the Central Military Commission respectively.

In 1996, according to the decision of the central government, the Foreign Affairs Office of the Ministry of National Defense was established and the Foreign Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense was no longer retained.

Before The Recruitment Office of the Ministry of National Defense was the Mobilization Department of the General Staff Headquarters, the Peacekeeping Affairs Office is under the Intelligence Department of the General Staff Headquarters, and the Foreign Affairs Office is the Foreign Affairs Bureau of the General Staff Headquarters.

In early 2008, the Ministry of National Defense began to establish a spokesperson system and established the Ministry of National Defense Press Affairs Bureau.

Before Xi Jinping carried out the "Deepening National Defense and Military Reform" in 2012, the Recruitment Office of the Ministry of National Defense was the Mobilization Department of the General Staff, the Peacekeeping Affairs Office was under the Intelligence Department of the General Staff, and the Foreign Affairs Office was the Foreign Affairs Bureau of the General Staff.

In January 2016, in the process of deepening the reform of national defense and the army, the Foreign Affairs Office of the General Staff Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (Foreign Affairs Office of the Ministry of National Defense) was abolished and the International Military Cooperation Office of the Central Military Commission was restructured. At the same time, it was renamed the Office of International Military Cooperation of the Ministry of National Defense. After the reform, the relevant functions of the Ministry of National Defense were undertaken by the corresponding functional departments of the Central Military Commission, and the Information Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense was located in the International Military Cooperation Office of the Central Military Commission. The Recruitment Office of the Ministry of National Defense is located in the General Office of the National Defense Mobilization Department of the Central Military Commission. The Peacekeeping Affairs Office of the Ministry of National Defense is located in the Intelligence Bureau of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission.[4][5]