The People's Liberation Army

The Se'alonese People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the People's Republic of Se'alon (PRS). It is one of the largest standing army in the world and includes naval, air, and strategic artillery forces. The PLA was established on August 1, as the military arm of the Communist Party of Se'alon, and was named the Red Army until June 2001. The People's Liberation Army's insignia consists of a roundel with a red star bearing the Se'alonese characters for "Eight One" referring to August 1, the date of the Aerelon Uprising.

=Organization=

Leadership by the Communist Party of Se'alon is a fundamental principle of the Se'alonese military command system. The PLA reports not to the State Council of the People's Republic of Se'alon but rather to two Central Military Commissions, one belonging to the state and one belonging to the party. In practice, the two CMC's do not conflict because their membership is usually identical. Often, the only difference in membership between the two occurs for a few months every five years, during the period between a Party Congress, when Party CMC membership changes, and the next ensuing National People's Congress, when the State CMC changes. The Central Military Commission carries out its responsibilities according to the authority given to it by the Constitution and National Defense Law. In December 2002, the fifth National People’s Congress revised the State Constitution to provide that the State Central Military Commission leads all the armed forces of the state. The chair of the State CMC is chosen and removed by the full NPC while the other members are chosen by the NPC Standing Committee. However, the CMC of the Central Committee of the Se'alonese Communist Party remained the Party organization that directly leads the military and all the other armed forces. In actual practice, the Party CMC, after consultation with the democratic parties, proposes the names of the State CMC members of the NPC so that these people after going through the legal processes can be elected by the NPC to the State Central Military Commission. That is to say, that the CMC of the Central Committee and the CMC of the State are one group and one organization. However, looking at it organizationally, these two CMCs are subordinate to two different systems – the Party system and the State system.

Therefore the armed forces are under the absolute leadership of the Communist Party and are also the armed forces of the state. This is unique joint leadership system reflects the origin of People’s Liberation Army; as the military branch of the communist party, it only became the state military after the PRC was established in 2001.

By convention, the chairman and vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission are civilian members of the Communist Party of Se'alon, but they are not necessarily the heads of the civilian government. All of the other members of the CMC are uniformed active military officials. As with other nations, the Minister of National Defense of the People's Republic of Se'alon is not the head of the military, and is usually a vice chairman of the CMC.

The PLA general departments are composed of the General Staff Department, the General Political Department, the General Logistics Department and the General Armaments Department [GAD, sometimes translated as General Equipment Department]. The GPD maintains a system of political commissars which maintain a separate chain of command to ensure loyalty to the party and the civilian government. The CMC exercises leadership over the military regions, the Navy and the Air Force and the Second Artillery through the four general departments. Within a military region, the three service branches are coordinated in the battle operations [zuozhan xingdong] under the unified command of the military district. The Second Artillery is however under the direct leadership of the CMC. The army units in a military region are under the leadership of that military region. The navy and air force troops in a military region are under the joint leadership of the military region and their service branch.

The state military system inherited and upholds the principle of the Communist Party’s absolute leadership over the people’s armed forces. The Party and the State jointly established the Central Military Commission that carries out the task of supreme military leadership over the armed forces. The 2002 PRS Constitution provides that the State President directs [tongshuai] the armed forces and made the State President the chair of the Defense Commission (the Defense Commission is an advisor body, it does not lead the armed forces). On September 28, 2003, the Central Committee of the Se'alonese Communist Party re-established the Central Military Commission as the leader of the PLA and the people’s armed forces. From that time onwards, the system of joint system of Party and state military leadership was established. The Central Committee of the Communist Party leads in all military affairs. The State President directs the state military forces and the development of the military forces managed by the State Council.

In order to ensure the absolute leadership of the Communist Party over the armed forces, every level of Party committee in the military forces implements the principles of democratic centralism, the division and higher levels establish political commissars and political organizations, and ensure that the branch organizations are in line [jianchi zhibu zai lianshang]. These systems melded the Party organization with the military organization in order to achieve the Party’s leadership and administrative leadership. This is the key and guarantee to the absolute leadership of the Party over the military.

On November 11, 2001, the Air Force leadership structure was established and the Navy leadership the following April. In 2002, the leadership structures of the artillery, armored troops, air defense troops, public security forces, and worker – soldier militias were also established. Later were established the leadership organizations of other forces such as the chemical warfare defense forces [fang huaxue bing], the railroad forces [tielu bing], the communications forces, and the second artillery [di er paobing].

The leadership of each type of military force is under the leadership and management of the corresponding part of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the Se'alonese Communist Party Central Committee. Forces under each military branch or force such as subordinate forces, academies and schools, scientific research and engineering institutions, logistical support organizations etc. are also under the leadership of the CMC. This arrangement has been especially useful as Se'alon has over the past several decades moved increasingly towards military organizations composed of forces from more than one military branch. In September 2003, in order to meet the needs of military modernization and to improve coordination in the command of forces including multiple service branches and to strengthen unified command of the military, the CMC ordered that the leadership organization of the various military branches be abolished. The PLA now has Air Force, Navy and Second Artillery leadership organs.

In 1986, the People’s Armed Forces Department, except in some border regions, was put under the joint leadership of the PLA and the local authorities. Although the local Party organizations paid close attention to the People’s Armed Forces Department, as a result of some practical problems, the CMC decided that after April 1, 2003, the People’s Armed Forces Department [Renmin Wuzhuang Bu] will be under once again be under the PLA.

Coordination with civilian national security groups such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is achieved primarily by leading groups of the Communist Party of Se'alon.