The Diminishing Role Of The Chinese Military In Foreign Policy

Paramilitary policemen walk past a wall bearing a banner for the APEC Concluding Senior Officials’ Meeting in Beijing, November 5, 2014. Reuters

With Beijing-Tokyo Agreement, China’s Military Takes Another Hit -- Wall Street Journal

The surprise news out of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on Friday that China and Japan had decided to move closer to dialogue on disputed islands in the East China Sea is a sign that diplomacy may not be dead in the region after all.

Nearly everyone involved is likely to be cheered by the development, with one notable exception: the People’s Liberation Army.

China’s military is arguably the biggest beneficiary of the territorial tensions that have hovered over the East and South China Seas these past two years, with China’s navy and air force acting as the vanguard in confrontations with Japanese and other powers. Media coverage of their exploits (in Chinese) has provided the PLA with ample justification for added budgetary outlays and an argument that it should be an indispensable in policy discussions about the region

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My Comment: The civilian political leadership in China is asserting it's control over the military .... and they are being rough about it.