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The voice of the PLA is influential in any decisions concerning a Chinese commitment to limit weapon sales, production, development, or testing.
Several entities within the military are known to have a role in formulating Chinese positions on arms control treaty negotiations. The most powerful is the Central Military Commission (CMC), an elite unit of senior ranking party leaders. Membership on this commission has long been seen as a source of considerable influence on a wide range of Chinese policy issues, and is highly prestigious. The Ministry of National Defense (MND), the primary function of which is administrative support to the PLA, has an Export Control Office.
In addition to the CMC, the General Staff Department (GSD), the rough equivalent of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, represents the views of the services on arms control and related issues. The GSD has been involved in arms controls issues since the early 1980's. when it began sending officers to attend the Conference on Disarmament (CD) as part of China's delegation.
Several research institutes are affiliated with the PLA: the China Institute of International Strategic Studies (now CIISS, formerly BIISS), the Institute for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, the China Defense Science and Technology Information Center (CDSTIC), and the Academy of Military Sciences. Researchers at these institutes analyze international arms control proposals and conventions as they affect Chinese defense posture, force planning, strategy, doctrine, training, and tactics. They perform research, write reports, attend conferences, and meet with foreigners. Few are focused exclusively, or even primarily, on arms control and non-proliferation, but each organization has one or more researchers who are knowledgeable about the subject. In addition, several people at CIISS provide support to the Chinese negotiating team at the Conference on Disarmament (CD).
In addition, senior PLA officers (as well as some of their relatives) run the extremely powerful weapons export companies connected to the PLA and the defense establishment. These companies negotiate foreign weapons purchases as well as sales. It is likely that they weigh in on arms control and non-proliferation policy decisions, especially those that would restrict their activities in some way, since these are the organizations that must adhere to whatever commitments are entered into by the central leadership. Among the more powerful of these companies are Poly Technologies and Xinshidai or "New Era Corporation".
Chinese Arms Control Organizations: A Basic Primer
Originally compiled by:
Wendy Frieman
Director of the Asia Technology Project
Science Applications International Corporation
Revised and updated by:
This
material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin
Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of
International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the
opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or
its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2007 by
MIIS.
