Probe into Chinese generals eliminates watered-down combat capability: Army daily

• Probe aims to build disciplined modern military under Communist Party control and not sudden political purge, Beijing-based analyst Einar Tangen says

ISTANBUL

China’s official military media said Monday that a probe into the country’s top generals would “eliminate watered-down” combat capability within the armed forces.

“The resolute investigation and punishment of corrupt officials such as Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli removes obstacles and stumbling blocks that hinder the development of our cause,” a front-page editorial in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Daily said on Monday.

Zhang, the top uniformed general of the PLA, and Liu have been under investigation since last month over “suspected serious discipline and law violations,” according to a Chinese Defense Ministry statement issued on Jan. 24.

“It eliminates the watered-down parts of combat capability building and inspires the spirit of hard work and perseverance, injecting strong momentum into the development of a strong military,” the editorial said, according to the South China Morning Post.

The editorial said the investigation and what it described as “in-depth political rectification” would bring “a new atmosphere and positive spirit,” urging the PLA to pledge loyalty to the ruling Chinese Communist Party and devote “all its energy” to building a first-class military capable of winning future battles.

Zhang, 75, is the first vice chairman of the seven-member Central Military Commission (CMC), which is led by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Liu is also a member of the CMC, which has seen three other members -- He Weidong, Li Shangfu and Miao Hua -- investigated and removed in recent months.

The top military body oversees the overall capability and operational preparedness of the Chinese armed forces, the People’s Liberation Army.

With the latest probe, the CMC is left with only two active members, including Xi and Zhang Shengmin, who serves as secretary of the commission’s discipline inspection body.

Reports have emerged alleging that Zhang was accused of “leaking information about the country’s nuclear-weapons program to the US,” but Beijing has referred only to the Defense Ministry’s statement on the ongoing investigations.

Following the announcement last month, the PLA Daily accused Zhang and Liu of having “undermined” Xi’s authority, abetted “political and corruption problems,” weakened party leadership over the armed forces and “caused immense damage” to combat effectiveness.

Anti-corruption mandate across party, government, military

China’s anti-corruption mandate spans the Communist Party, the government and the military, said Beijing-based analyst Einar Tangen.

“This mandate was first articulated in 2013, when Xi said the Party must ‘govern itself strictly’ and that corruption threatened its legitimacy. The same message is repeated every year,” Tangen told Anadolu.

He said the PLA inherited by Xi was “fragmented and corruption-prone.”

“Before 2012, the PLA was widely described by Chinese analysts as a collection of ‘small kingdoms’ (with) each service branch and military region had its own schools, hospitals, factories, and real-estate assets,” he said.

He said internal governance had “drifted far from Party control and professional military standards,” prompting reforms aimed at ending what he described as the “fiefdom era.”

Since 2013, the CMC has implemented the most sweeping military reforms since the 1950s, investigating more than 100 senior officers by 2023 and replacing the PLA’s “Seven Military Regions” with five theater commands in 2016, breaking up entrenched regional power bases, Tangen said.

“The arrests are part of a long-term effort to build a disciplined, modern military under Party control -- not a sudden purge for political purposes,” Tangen added.