By RF ASHA THAPLIYAL
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22 February, 2022
Civil Military Fusion in China
1. Civil Military Fusion (CMF) in advanced countries, especially in countries with well-protected intellectual property rights, means that military-civilian technology complements each other. But, the concept of CMF is more far-reaching and ambitious in respect of China vis-à-vis other countries. China’s CMF objectives aims to achieve the world’s most technologically sophisticated military, advanced and emerging technologies from around the globe.
2. Under the CMF strategy, a Central Commission for Military-Civil Fusion Development (CCMCFD) was established in 2017. Xi Jinping, who is also the General Secretary of Central Military Commission (CMC), is heading this Commission. Different units and hierarchies at the province level are involved to ensure that CMF is executed.
3. China’s CMF strategy seeks the path to effectively break barriers between the private sector, academia, research and technology and PLA for military advancements and capabilities development through the formation of an all factor, multi-domain, and highly effective ‘CMF deep-development pattern’ having both domestic and international components.
4. In a demonstration of the PLA’s genuine desire to engage the private sector, the CMC’s Equipment Development Department (EDD) opened tenders on more than 2,000 projects to private companies in Apr 2017. A month prior, the CMC’s National Defence Intellectual Property Office of the EDD announced that it would declassify over 3,000 defence patents for private sector use, making it the first time patent system since the creation of PLA.
5. China’s 10 military-industrial groups have been identified as coordinators of China’s CMF program, domestically and internationally. They help facilitate exchange of technology, capital, and infrastructure between China’s military and civilian sectors, after acquiring them domestically and overseas.
6. The ‘Seven Sons of National Defence’, a group of leading universities, subordinate to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), which oversees China’s defence industry through its subordinate agency, State Administration of Science, Technology & Industry for National Defence (SASTIND), stand at the forefront of defence research in China. Many of the PRC’s named ‘talents’ programs are likely influenced by MCF planning, as are reforms in its military academies, national universities, and research institutes.
7. The Joint Logistics Support Force (JLSF), created in 2016 and directly subordinate to the CMC, is also closely linked to the concept of CMF. It plays a critical role in projecting PLA’s ability within and beyond China’s borders, which Chinese strategists refer to as ‘strategic delivery’. JLSF is the key to building a modern logistics support system, and is critical for implementing integrated joint operations, supporting joint training, and providing strategic and campaign joint logistics.
8. China is targeting accelerated modernisation and the development of disruptive capabilities that aims to support its longer-term bid to achieve ‘world class’ military status. During its 14th FYP (2021–25), although, explicit references to CMF has been curtailed to avoid direct criticism from current and former senior US leaders and members of the policy community, China is emphasising on ‘unity between the PLA and the people’.
9. The PLA has been playing a direct role in incubating emerging technologies and developing ties with private enterprises and research institutes to apply them to military modernisation. PRC technology companies are also expanding into overseas markets, in some cases by offering smart city technologies, a development that could increase their access to foreign talent and data. Potential military applications of some emerging technologies include: AI and Advanced Robotics, Semiconductors and Advanced Computing, Quantum Technologies, Biotechnology, Hypersonic and Directed Energy Weapons, Advanced Materials and Alternative Energy.
10. Strategic domains like Space, Maritime, Cyberspace, Dual Use Connectivity Projects, Smart Logistics Parks, Border Villages, Dual-Use Surveillance Architecture (sepecially in case of Tibet), are also part of CMF strategy of PRC.
11. The elevation of the CMF Development Strategy and the creation of the CCMCFD signals the importance that Party leaders place on CMF, its scope and scale of strategy ambitions. CMF being the linkage between the defence, dual-use, and civilian economic sectors, the strategy continues to play an important role in China’s 14th FYP as well as in the forthcoming 2021-2035 Medium and Long-Term S&T Development Plan. Whether it will be highlighted in the published narratives of these plans, is questionable. To sum up, China’s CMF strategy is a reminder of the importance of investing in our own competitiveness in dual-use technologies which forms the basis of a much broader source of strategic strength of a country.