Xi Jinping tells senior PLA leaders they must eliminate conditions that breed corruption

The People's Liberation Army must demonstrate absolute loyalty to the Communist Party and there can be no room for corruption in the military, President Xi Jinping told PLA top brass this week.

We must make it clear that the barrels of arms must always be in the hands of those who are loyal and reliable to the party. And we must make it clear that there is no place for corrupt elements in the military, Xi was quoted as saying by State. as the media say.

Xi spoke in Yanan, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, on Monday at a Central Military Commission (CMC) policy work conference with key officials and political commissars of the military, said reported the official Xinhua news agency. The appearance came next month ahead of the third plenum of the Communist Party Central Committee, which is expected to set China's economic and reform priorities for the coming years.

The Xinhua report points out that the conference was initiated by Xi, who is chairman of the CMC, the PLA's top decision-making body.

Xi's speech, which covered a range of issues from global geopolitical challenges to the modernization of the PLA, echoed one he delivered a decade ago in Gutian, Fujian province, which heralded a overhaul of the PLA and acceleration of its modernization campaign.

On Monday, Xi told PLA elites that they should never forget the revolutionary spirit of the Communist Party's founders, remain loyal to the party and prepare for an unstable and rapidly changing world.

At present, we are facing complex and profound changes in the world, in the country, in the party and in the army, he said. Politically, we must continually promote politics in building our army as our military faces sophisticated and unprecedented challenges so that we can ensure that the nature and principles of the people's army will never change and that we can always dare to fight and win.

To win, Xi said senior cadres must be willing to do deep introspection and face their own shortcomings.

[PLA] Cadres at all levels, especially the top echelons, must come forward, dare to lose face and face their own shortcomings and shortcomings, make serious rectifications, and resolve the problems that are deeply rooted in their thinking, a Xi said.

He added that the top brass must eliminate the breeding grounds and conditions that fuel corruption by improving the distribution of power and operational mechanisms of checks and balances, enriching the toolbox to punish new types of corruption and the hidden corruption and strengthening overall supervision of senior officials. officers in their performance and use of power.

Xi made no mention of individuals in his speech, which comes after the dismissal of dozens of senior PLA officials since last year. Former Defense Minister Li Shangfu was abruptly dismissed from his post in October, without the reasons for his dismissal having been announced.

In addition, nine senior generals, including former or current commanders of the PLA Rocket Force (PLARF), the former commander of the Air Force, and some officials of the Central Military Commission of the Equipment Development Department responsible for development of equipment and purchasing, were disqualified from their positions. the National People's Congress in December. Their deletions also remain unexplained.

The SCMP reported last year that Beijing had launched a wide-ranging anti-corruption investigation focused on the leadership of the PLARF, a key part of the country's nuclear arsenal. In December, investigations led to the dismissal of three senior Chinese aerospace and defense officials from China's top advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and a prominent Chinese rocket scientist was also expelled from the CPPCC in January.

The military is one of the main targets of Xi's sweeping anti-corruption campaign. The decade-long effort saw the fall of top military leaders like Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou, both former vice presidents of the CMC, in 2014 and 2015.

The Conference on Political Work is part of the series of meetings of the Central Military Commissions on important issues, as political work is always the lifeline of the PLA.

In 2014, Xi chaired an expanded CMC policy work conference with delegates from across the PLA in Gutian, Fujian province. This meeting echoes that of 1929 held at the same place by Mao Zedong, during which the Communist Party established the principle according to which the party commands the arms.