CCP should not be above the state

During the years when the Communists were leading an insurrection against the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek, they needed to have their own military.

Thus, the communists resisted efforts by the Chiang government to integrate their units into the national armed forces.

However, after the proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, there was no further need for the party to behave as though it was still an insurrectionary force. The PLA should at that time have been transformed into the state's military arm.

Instead, the party kept it on as its private army, as though it was somehow in danger of losing control of the country to the defeated forces of Chiang Kai-shek in exile on Taiwan.

Similarly, in Hong Kong, which became part of China in 1997, the Communist Party still behaves like an underground party, to such an extent that party members will not openly admit their party membership.

The convenor of the Executive Council, Leung Chun-ying, recently denied being a party member. The president of the Legislative Council, Tsang Yok-sing, has refused to say whether he is one.

Part of the reason why the Communist Party refuses to transform the PLA into the state's armed forces is that the party puts itself above the state. But it should understand that China cannot be a normal country as long as the party is above the state.

There is no reason for the state to be subservient to the party forever. This may have made some sense during the Maoist era, when China's goal was world communism. But now that the party has defined its role as simply to work for the betterment of the state and its people, there is no reason for keeping the party above the state and the military under the party.

After all, if the party's role is simply to work for the betterment of the state, it should be subservient to the state rather than the other way around. It is the state and its interests that should be paramount.

Frank Ching can be reached at: Frank.ching@gmail.com.

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