India, Nov. 20 -- Communist regimes often rest on a precarious balance between civilian political authority and the military's autonomy. With his declaration that "power flows from the barrel of the gun, but the Party must always command the gun", Mao Zedong addressed this inherent schism and made the People's Liberation Army (PLA) subservient to the Communist Party of China (CPC). However, dictums alone can't dictate power tussles, and all Chinese leaders since Mao have made tactical arrangements to command authority over the PLA and thereby, the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Unlike his predecessors, Xi Jinping's dealings with the PLA have been troubled since the restructuring of the force in 2016. This relationship appears to have ...