The PLA is thus a core component of the Chinese communist system. It has been, moreover, purposely kept beyond the government's jurisdiction.
The people's Liberation army is assigned a bureaucratic rank equal to that of the State Council, the government's highest level of authority.
This means that government cannot issue binding orders to the military.
Rather, the military answer directly to a party body called the Military Affairs Commission, which MAo Zedong personally chaired until his death in 1976 (though it is the vice chairman of the commission who is in charge on a day-to-day basis).
This unusual arrangement reflects the fact that the military's first job is to protect the party rather than the government.
The party can utilize the military just as for other purposes it might utilize the government apparatus.