In Mao¡¦s era , Mao Zedong had a dominant leadership role, and PLA political role was affected by Mao¡¦s authority. PLA had to subordinate to Mao¡¦s order. PLA only played a role as a tool. After the 1978 reform, Deng Xiaoping promoted military modernization in the 1980s to reduce the political influence of the military. After Deng¡¦s death, Jiang Zemin lacked the personal authority and military background. As a result, Jiang had to grant concessions to PLA in order to ensure its support. One concession had obviously been the unprecedented participation of military chiefs in foreign affairs decisions that were of concern to PLA, including issues related to Taiwan and relations with the United States. Besides, in Jiang¡¦s era, the opportunities and channels which PLA participated in foreign policies increased. PLA influence in foreign policy was stronger than Mao¡¦s era and Deng¡¦s era. The research motivation of this essay is to expect that can understand the change of PLA political influence. The research aims of the essay include the following: 1. exploring the factors that affect PLA political influence; 2.probing into PLA participation in foreign policy, and realizing PLA political influence; 3.analying military diplomacy, and understanding the cooperation between PLA and Ministry of Foreign Affairs; 4.probing into the conflict between PLA and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and understanding PLA strong attitude; 5.analying the decision model, Party-Military relations, political situation, the issues related to the national security, and deducing PLA political influence in the future.

The importance of party-military relations in the People's Republic of China was succinctly stated by Mao in his dictum that "political power comes from the gun" and "the Party should command the gun." Party-military relations in the PRC have never fully conformed to Mao's warning. This study seeks to analyze the nature and types of party-military relations in the PRC during the post-Mao period and the factors affecting change in these relations.