On August 1, 2025, on the occasion of the Chinese Communist Party’s “PLA Day,” the San Francisco Bay Area branch of the Chinese Democratic Party and several democratic individuals held a protest rally in front of the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco, strongly urging for the nationalization of the Chinese military. They demanded an end to the authoritarian system of “Party commands the gun” and advocated for returning the military to the people and the nation.
Protestors at the scene displayed slogans such as “August 1 is not the CCP’s holiday, it’s the people’s cry” and “Military nationalization, political democratization,” expressing strong dissatisfaction with the current “militarization of the Party.” They put forward three core demands:
1. Demand military nationalization. The military should serve the country and all people, not a political party. The illegal system of “Party commands the gun” should be abolished immediately.
2. Condemn the CCP’s “party army.” The CCP’s military is not only used for domestic stability maintenance but also for monitoring dissidents overseas, constituting cross-border oppression.
3. Hold the military accountable for suppressions. The atrocities behind events such as the June 4th massacre, human rights crackdowns, Hong Kong suppression, Xinjiang re-education camps all involve the involvement of the “party army.”
One of the rally organizers and democracy activist Zhang Junjie pointed out, “PLA Day should originally commemorate the national armed forces, but it has been utilized by the CCP to showcase violence and reinforce authoritarianism.”
He emphasized that the CCP has tied the nation and the party together, turning the military into the party’s private property, deviating from the basic constitutional principle that “national sovereignty belongs to the people.”
“We don’t expect the CCP to reflect and change, as it doesn’t possess the ability for self-reformation,” said Zhang Junjie. “But we must speak out on PLA Day because this country belongs to the people, and the existence of the military must be based on the authorization of the people.”
He pointed out that the military must serve the people, not the party. When the command of the military harms the welfare and dignity of the people, such command is illegal.
“What the CCP fears the most is not our slogans but the spread of truth and the awakening of people’s consciousness.”
Zhang Junjie bluntly stated, “In today’s China, from a constitutional perspective, there isn’t a truly national military. The so-called ‘People’s Liberation Army’ is fundamentally not the nation’s military but the CCP’s party army.”
One of the responsible activists at the Chinese Democratic Party Bay Area, Cui Yunxing, emphasized, “The military is nurtured by us, the people, not by the CCP, and certainly not Xi Jinping’s private property.” He criticized the CCP for long using the military as a tool for stability maintenance, especially in the events of the June 4th incident and various human rights struggles, where military forces were frequently deployed to suppress the people.
“Military expenses come from taxpayers, from the hard-earned money of every ordinary worker, not party assets,” he stressed. Only when the military truly serves the country and the constitution, accepting checks and balances from elected governments, can it be called “the people’s military.”
Democratic activist Yuan Qiang pointed out that Chinese taxpayers are supporting this military, yet it turns its guns against the people. He questioned, “Should the military’s loyalty belong to the people or to the party?”
From the sounds of gunfire during land reform, the fervor of the Cultural Revolution, the tanks at Tiananmen Square, to today’s stability maintenance machinery, Yuan Qiang said, “This military has always stood against the people, using the name of ‘the people’ while serving the party.”
He emphasized, “It must be asked, for whom does the military exist? Is it for the constitution or for power? Is it for the country or for the red interest group?”
In his speech, Democratic Party member Guan Yongjie called for the “nationalization of the military” to be explicitly written into the Chinese Constitution. “Even the enlistment oath has changed from ‘serving the people wholeheartedly’ to ‘serving the Chinese Communist Party wholeheartedly,’ which is a complete fascistization,” he questioned, “If the military pledges such naked loyalty to the party, can there be any talk of the military’s independent authority?”
Zhang Xijing bluntly stated that the military parades in China are not for pride but for intimidating the people. “The CCP’s main tool for suppressing dissenters is the military. We demand to return the military to the people, no longer as a tool of enslavement.”
Hailing from Shandong, He Cong recounted the 2007 Jinan torrential rain incident where underground supermarkets were flooded, causing many deaths. Instead of rescuing people, the authorities blocked the exits, leading to drownings. Later, the military cordoned off the area, using military vehicles to remove hundreds of bodies, preventing families from identifying them, with no public investigation to this day.
He also mentioned the 2011 Wenzhou high-speed rail accident, where “the military immediately cordoned off the site, burying the surviving carriages on the spot, only for controlling public opinion.”
He said, “As long as the military is in the hands of the party, it will never speak for the people, instead, it is the source of human rights disasters.”
Painter Li Ke, originally from the mainland and engaging in democratic advocacy in San Francisco since 2008, shared her awakening process. “My father was killed while working in China, the police claimed it was a robbery, but they didn’t allow us, the family, to attend court or see the suspect, everything was covered up.”
Even after immigrating to the United States, she continues to seek the truth but has been under national security surveillance. She stated, “It’s because a free society can expose the truth that the CCP is so vigilant.”
Democracy advocate Zhang Long criticized that the CCP’s military has repeatedly launched “unjust wars” and bloody suppressions throughout history, from the Korean War, suppressing Tibet, the Sino-Vietnamese War, to the June 4th massacre, all proving its violent machinery for CCP’s stability maintenance and internal suppression. “The CCP’s ‘Party commands the gun’ is completely unconstitutional. The military belongs to the nation, not to any political party or individual.”