Thu January, 2021, Age: 3 years
Effective January 1st, amendments to China’s National Defense Law consolidated decision making power in the Central Military Commission (CMC) and reduced the influence of subordinate officials in the State Council. The CMC is helmed by President Xi Jinping. Changes to China’s National Defense Law also expanded the justifications under which China could mobilize its military forces. According to Newsweek (which relied on the reporting of Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research): “It widens the scope of the law and provides legal grounds for full or partial military mobilization, to include insurrection, secession, as well as threats to China’s sovereignty, unification, territorial integrity, national security and overseas interests.” The Taiwanese think tank concluded that changes to the National Defense Law make the prospect of a Chinese-U.S. conflict more likely.
