Well informed Chinese sources have for the first time disclosed details about high level of corruption prevalent in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the manner in which President Xi Jinping is cracking down on corrupt officers in the PLA, and meeting stiff resistance as a result.
In what is being seen as a blow to the powerful PLA, the world's largest military force, with a strength of approximately 2,285,000 personnel, or 0.18 percent of China's total population, informed sources have circulated an unprecedented listing of top PLA officers who have been booked for corruption.
This has created a great deal of upheaval and generated huge resentment within the PLA and its top brass.
The unusual list of 36 senior and high-ranked corrupt officers suggests that today all is not well with China's PLA. The list of officers booked and removed from service on corruption charges are:
1. Gen Xu Caihou, former Vice Chairman of CMC.
2. Maj Gen Wang Minggui, former Political Commissar of Air Force Command School.
3. Maj Gen Zhang Zhengwu, former Chief of Staff of Jinan MR.
4. Maj Gen Fang Wenping, former Commander of Shaanxi Provincial Military District.
5. Maj Gen Wi Pu, Deputy Political Commissar of Tibet Autonomous Region Military District.
6. Lt Gen Yang Jinshan, Deputy Commander of Chengdu MR.
7. Maj Gen Ye Wanyong, former Political Commissar of Sichuan Provincial Military District.
8. Maj Gen Zhang Daixin, Deputy Commander of the Heilongjiang Provincial Military District.
9. Maj Gen Fan Changmi, Deputy Political Commissar of Lanzhou MR.
10. Maj Gen Yu Daqing, Deputy Political Commissar of Second Artillery Corps.
11. Maj Gen Ma Xiangdong, Director of the Political Department of Nanjing Institute of Politics.
12. Maj Gen Fu Linguo, Deputy Chief of Staff of General Logistics Headquarters.
13. Maj Gen Gao Xiaoyan, Deputy Political Commissar of PLA Information Engineering University.
14. Maj Gen Dai Weimin, Vice President of Nanjing Institute of Politics.
15. Maj Gen Liu Zheng, Deputy Minister of General Logistics Departments.
16. Maj Gen Chen Qiang, Deputy Commander of 55 Base of Second Artillery Corps.
17. Maj Gen Zhu Heping, Director of Joint Logistics Department of Chengdu MR.
18. Maj Gen Wang Aiguo, former Director of the Joint Logistics Department of Shenyang MR.
19. Maj Gen Huang Xianjun, former Director of the Political Department of Shanxi Military District under Beijing MR.
20. Maj Gen Duan Tianjie, Deputy Director of the Political Department of the PLA National Defense University of PLA.
21. Maj Gen Yuan Shijun, former Commander of the Hubei Military District under Guangzhou MR.
22. Maj Gen Huang Xing, former Director of the Research Instruction Department of PLA Academy of Military Sciences (AMS).
23. Maj Gen Zhang Dongshui, Deputy Political Commissar of PLA Second Artillery Corps.
24. Maj Gen Liu Hongjie, Deputy Director of the Management and Support Department of General Staff Headquarter of PLA.
25. Maj Gen Cheng Jie, Deputy Chief of Staff of North China Sea Fleet of PLAN.
26. Maj Gen Chen Jianfeng, former Deputy Director of Joint Logistics Department of Guangzhou MR.
27. Maj Gen Chen Hongyan, Deputy Director of Political Department of PLAAF under Beijing MR.
28. Maj Gen Wang Sheng, Director of Logistics Department of PLAAF under Guangzhou MR.
29. Maj Gen Guo Zhenggang, Deputy Political Commissar of Zhejiang Military District under Nanjing MR.
30. Maj Gen Lan Weijie, former Deputy Commander of Hubei Provincial Military Command under Guangzhou MR.
31. Maj Gen Dong Mingxiang, former Director of Joint Logistics Department of Beijing MR.
32. Maj Gen Zhan Guoqiao former Director of Joint Logistics Department of Lanzhou MR.
33. Maj Gen Zhan Jun, Deputy Commander of Hubei Provincial Military Command.
34. Maj Gen Dong Mingxiang, former Director of Joint Logistics Department of Beijing MR.
35. Maj. Gen Zhan Guoqiao former Director of Joint Logistics Department of Lanzhou MR.
36. Maj Gen Zhan Jun, Deputy Commander of Hubei Provincial Military Command.
Array
A recent report in a leading daily of China has said that corruption probes against senior military officials and detention of generals arising from investigations into allegations of corruption is debilitating the fighting capabilities of the PLA.
Under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, China's ruling Communist Party is aggressively seeking to stamp out corruption in all aspects of administration, and especially within the powerful military establishment, to reassert its control.
President Xi Jinping is determined to clean up the PLA, say Hong Kong-based informed sources, adding that Xi has witnessed corruption in the PLA at close quarters while vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission under his predecessor Hu Jintao, who was regarded as politically weak and unable to rein in the nation's then very powerful PLA commanders-Vice-Chairmen Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong. It is this experience that Xi is bringing to weed out highly placed corrupt elements within the PLA.
Corruption in China has been of an extreme degree. In 2014, China was ranked no.100 in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, on par with Algeria and Suriname, and comparable to Armenia, Colombia, Egypt, Gabon, Liberia, Panama, Bolivia, Mexico, Moldova and Niger.
It was ranked less corrupt than neighbours Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, North Korea, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nepal, but more corrupt than neighbours like India, Bhutan, Macau, Hong Kong and Mongolia.
So alarming is the problem, that the government in Beijing this month sent over 70 officials and their spouses to spend a day in a prison in central Hubei Province "as an educational warning", as to what could happen if they indulged in corrupt practices.
A state-run news agency reported that the trip gave them a chance to meet 15 former government staff serving custodial sentences for corruption.
The ruling Communist party has vowed to crack down on endemic corruption, with several former senior figures placed under investigation in recent years.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Communist Party's top anti-corruption body, is on record, as saying such prison visits are being organised nation-wide to encourage cadres to "be aware of wrongdoings involving corruption".
