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“Iron-fisted” Measures
On Jan. 15, 2015, the army published major corruption cases in 2014 involving cadres above corps level, showing 16 were investigated. On March 2, the army revealed that 14 cadres above corps level had been punished.
The public were surprised that so many senior military officials have been probed over two months. An article published on the website of the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said that publishing corrupt high-level military officials would help dispel queries that the military anti-corruption drive was just a phase or “a gust of wind.” The opinion was reposted by Western media.
“President Xi Jinping heads the Central Military Commission, which controls the 2.3 million strong armed forces, the world's largest, and has made weeding out corruption in the military a top goal,” reported Reuters. “He has vowed to target high-ranking ‘tigers’ as well as lowly ‘flies’ in a broad campaign against corruption.”
In October last year, at a military political work conference held in an historic revolutionary base in the township of Gutian, Shanghang County in southeast China’s Fujian Province, Xi highlighted the strengthening of the army’s ideological and political development, and called for serious reflection on the discipline and law violations of former CMC Vice Chairman Xu Caihou.
A string of hard measures to clamp down on graft shows China’s resolve to eradicate corruption in the army, including exposing the cases of Gu Junshan, a former senior military logistics officer, Xu, and 30 senior military officials.
Yang Yujun, spokesman for the MND, said the army will continue promoting the anti-corruption drive in accordance with the central government. “There will be no hiding place in the army for corrupt officials, and we will thoroughly investigate violators no matter how senior they are,” said Yang.
The PLA Daily, official newspaper of the CMC, published an article in the front page: “To root out corruption is a decisive measure to run the army by law and to rejuvenate the armed forces and the country, concerning the development of the CPC, the army, the country and the Chinese nation. In the campaign, we must not and cannot afford to withdraw, and we must not and cannot afford to lose, as there is no way back.”
