and is flexible enough to allow power to disseminate the ranks They're not. China (and other dictatorships) do not want an empowered office corps at the junior

and is flexible enough to allow power to disseminate the ranks They're not. China (and other dictatorships) do not want an empowered office corps at the junior ranks, and the CCP is very careful to keep senior PLA generals on a short leash. The PLA Navy has not fired a shot in anger since the 1980s.