By almost any measure, China's 60th anniversary celebrations held in Beijing last Thursday were a tremendous success, showcasing the country's military prowess and economic and cultural advances while highlighting its ethnic diversity. But they also highlighted the fact that China is still not a normal country.
In the morning celebrations, with the entire Chinese leadership on display atop the Tiananmen Square rostrum, one man stood out: Hu Jintao. This was not just because he is China's President and the Communist Party's General Secretary. It was because he was dressed differently from the other leaders, who were in Western-style suits and ties.
Mr. Hu wore a Chinese outfit often referred to in the West as a Mao suit, but known in China as a Zhongshan suit, named after the founder of the Chinese Republic, Sun Yatsen, who is commonly known as Sun Zhongshan. The suit was created by him and worn by members of his government.
Interestingly, at the evening celebrations, the President had changed into a Western suit. Why the metamorphosis? Well, Mr. Hu appeared in the morning in his capacity as chairman of the party's Central Military Commission to review the armed forces. And apparently the commander of the military must not wear a Western business suit. It doesn't look revolutionary enough.
Certainly, Mr. Hu's predecessors, Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, never wore business suits. But by the time Jiang Zemin became China's leader, it was customary for officials to wear Western suits, which Mr. Jiang usually did. But when appearing before the troops, he wore the Zhongshan suit.
More than sartorial preference is involved. The People's Liberation Army is not a part of China's government. It is part of the Communist Party.
This is one reason why Mr. Hu, while in Italy to attend the Group of Eight meeting, had to fly home after the July 5 riots in Urumqi. As chairman of the military commission, he had to take personal command of the troops to be deployed.
It is certainly not normal for a country not to have armed forces. It is also not normal for the ruling party to put itself above the state.
During the years when the Communists led an insurrection against the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek, they needed their own military. Thus, they resisted efforts by the Chiang government to integrate their units into the national armed forces.
However, after the proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, there was no further need for the party to behave as an insurrectionary force. The PLA should have been transformed into the state's military arm. Instead, the party kept it as its private army, as if it was somehow in danger of losing control of the country to the defeated forces in exile on Taiwan.
Similarly, in Hong Kong, which became part of China in 1997, the Communist Party still behaves like an underground organization, to such an extent that party members will not openly admit their membership. The convener of the executive council, Leung Chun-ying, recently denied belonging. The president of the legislative council, Tsang Yok-sing, has refused to say whether he is one.
Part of the reason why the Communist Party refuses to transform the PLA into the country's armed forces is that the party puts itself above the state. This may have made some sense during the Maoist era, when China's goal was world communism. But now that the party has defined its role as simply to work for the betterment of the country and its people, there is no reason for keeping the party above the state and the military under the party. The state and its interests should be paramount.
Frank Ching is a Hong Kong-based writer.