Decrypting China’s newly revised National Defence Law

China pursues a national defense policy that is defensive in nature, with revisions in the national defense law. It is Beijing’s powerful counter-attack against malicious attacks by individual countries that are propagating and advocating China threat theories, while branding Xi’s assertive diplomacy countering western criticism as a wolf-warrior diplomacy

@Kunal_Chonkar 

New Delhi: President Xi Jinping is weaponizing the People’s Liberation Army (PLA_ as his primary tool to achieve the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) strategic goals in 2021. The newly amended National Defence law has availed the Central Military Commission (CMC), Beijing’s top command body headed by President Xi, powers to action not only the PLA but also the and civilian resources in defense of a broader spectrum of national interests, which include ‘development interests’ and countering ‘secession.’

The law of the People’s Republic of China on National Defence came into effect on January 1, 2021, after being signed by Xi himself. The amendments were passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislative body, on December 26, 2020, after nearly two years of deliberations and discussions.

When the proposed amendments underwent a public consultation period between October 21 to November 19, Chinese Minister of National Defence Wei Fenghe stated that the revisions were ‘urgently needed in response to major changes in the domestic and international situation,’ since the current national defense law was promulgated and implemented in 1997. Wei added the new law was needed to better allow China to counter ‘increasingly diverse and complex security threats and challenges.’

Main provisions

The law has been revised from 12 chapters with 70 articles to 12 chapters with 73 articles – the changes include 15 amended articles, six new articles, and three deleted ones. This range of revisions has given the CMC greater authority to mobilize civilian and military resources to protect a new and wider definition of national interests, which now encompasses the terms ‘development interests’ and combating ‘secession’ as well. 

A key change can be seen in Article 56, which mobilizes state-owned and private enterprises to take part in research into new defense technologies covering conventional weapons, as well as the non-traditional domains of cyber security, space, and electromagnetics. This amendment has been widely seen as a response to the moves of western nations to restrict the trading activities of Chinese tech firms on national security grounds.

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An interesting aspect of the law is the use of the term ‘development interests.’ This term appears four times in the newly revised law, including in Article 47 which cites protecting ‘development interests’ as grounds for China to fully or partially mobilize troops and reserve forces. Since taking power in 2012, President Xi has time and again stressed that China will not compromise in protecting its development interests. While the law does not specify the nature of ‘development interests,’ analysts link it with safeguarding China’s economic activities and investments overseas, including President Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

A new concept is also observed in the law, in Article 55, which stipulates that all citizens should enhance ‘awareness of national defense and danger’ through national defense education. The amended law also seeks to turn the military into a profession ‘revered by the whole of society,’ according to Article 8. The previous law referred to making the military a profession ‘respected by the whole of society.’ The law also features a new clause stipulating that soldiers must be ‘loyal’ to the motherland and the ruling CCP.

New law to provoke old tensions

The law’s inclusion of the terms ‘development interests,’ and ‘secession’ have already added to tensions with Taiwan following a tense year of the PLA upticking ‘grey warfare’ tactics surrounding the democratic island. Beijing regards Taipei as part of its territory and has repeatedly threatened to reclaim the self-ruled island if it moves towards independence.

In response to this law, Taiwan’s Vice-President William Lai Ching-te took to social media, on January 4, where he posted a message reading ‘Taiwan is clearly a target [of the law].’ He added that ‘We [Taiwan] will continue to seek a peaceful path while strengthening our defense.’

Since the draft amendments were made public in October, some Taiwan media outlets have also raised concerns about a potential military attack by China. However, Chinese state-run media pushed back these concerns claiming that they were ‘misinterpreted’ and ‘politically motivated.’ China’s new defense law is also likely to raise tensions with Washington. Beijing has already protested against the new defense law reaffirming support for Taipei’s self-defense and a new initiative to bolster and expand the footprint of the US military in the Asia-Pacific.

Law against western criticism

Meanwhile, Military Law Researcher from PLA Academy of Military Science, Wang Shumei while speaking to the Chinese media directed that with the new clauses in the defense law ‘China pursues a national defense policy that is defensive in nature.’ He justified the law as ‘a powerful counter-attack against malicious attacks by individual countries’ which are propagating and advocating ‘China threat theories,’ while branding Beijing’s ‘assertive diplomacy’ countering western criticism as a ‘wolf-warrior diplomacy.’