With their deep attachments to the military, in which thay had all spent decades of their lives befere 1949, the CCP leaders set up the military as a third nationwide bureaucracy.
On the eve of their victory in 1949, the CCP had pulled all its scattered military forces together and organized them into the People's Liberation Army (PLA), encompassing the army, navy, and air force.
The military hierarchy does not completely parallel its civilian counterparts, although the three intersect at key points: most military districts, for example, are coterminous with peovinces.
To China's top leaders, the PLA has been a majorinstrument for achieving both international security and domestic policy goals.