Abstract
This chapter explains why and how the military forces have been institutionalized as the country’s most important rescue team in major disaster relief campaigns, and the impacts upon effectiveness of disaster management. Both the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the People’s Armed Police (PAP)’s roles in disaster management and their differentiated relationships with the central government and Party leadership are discussed here. Since the PLA has its own autonomous administrative and operation process that creates fault lines in civilian oversight of senior generals, central and local government officials often have awkward relationship with the military in the disaster management system where the PLA only obeys orders from the top party leadership instead of administrative leaders. This chapter detects the change of PLA’s role under the new system of National Emergency Response Plan for Natural Disaster Relief, which was enacted in 2011.
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Chen, G. (2016). Military Forces in China’s Disaster Management. In: The Politics of Disaster Management in China. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54831-3_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54831-3_7
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