Corruption in PLA Jolts Beijing’s confidence in Top officials
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Xi Jinping’s Bid to Root Out Corruption in PLA Takes Backseat: Pentagon
Corruption continues to sweep through all sections of the People’s Liberation Army of China. A Pentagon report for the Congress documents current wave of corruption in the PLA.
In 2023, the PLA experienced a new wave of corruption-related investigations and removals of senior leaders which may have disrupted its progress toward stated 2027 modernization goals. Between July and December 2023, at least 15 high-ranking military officers and defense industry executives were removed from their posts.
Several leaders investigated or removed for corruption oversaw equipment development projects related to modernizing the PRC’s ground-based nuclear and conventional missiles. In late October, Beijing officially removed then-PRC Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu from his post.
Li had previously led the CMC’s EDD from 2017 to 2022, where he would have signed off on all of the PLA’s weapons acquisitions. Li’s ouster followed the removal of several PLARF leaders last July, including then-PLARF Commander Li Yuchao, PLARF Political Commissar Xu Zhongbo, and several deputy commanders.
The wholesale dismissal of senior PLARF leadership may be connected to fraud cases involving the construction of underground silos for ballistic missiles during a period of rapid expansion for the PLARF and the PRC’s missile industry. The impact on PRC leaders’ confidence in the PLA after discovering corruption on this scale is probably elevated by the PLARF’s uniquely important nuclear mission.
This investigation likely resulted in the PLARF repairing the silos, which would have increased the overall operational readiness of its silo-based force. At least five PRC defense industry leaders, including the head of the PRC’s largest missile manufacturer, have been detained for investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the CCP’s top corruption watchdog, likely for engaging in bribery and graft with PLA officers during the acquisition process.
In December, nine officials—primarily PLARF and CMC EDD leaders as well as defense industry leaders—were removed from the NPC, the PRC’s national legislature, presumably because of their connections to corruption. In late July 2023, the PLA made a rare announcement, launching a wide-ranging investigation into weapon procurement programs dating back to 2017, signaling significant concerns with the PLA’s modernization efforts more broadly.
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The extent of the current wave of corruption cases, touching every service in the PLA, may have shaken Beijing’s confidence in high-ranking PLA officials because rooting out corruption in the military had been a major focus for Xi since he became CMC chairman in 2012.
PRC leaders probably view the CCP’s decade-long campaign as a necessary tool to build a professional fighting force as part of the PLA’s 2027 modernization goals. In March 2024, CMC Vice Chairman He Weidong told a PLA delegation at the PRC’s annual legislative gathering that the CMC would crack down on “fake combat capabilities” in the military, which may refer to weapons procurement-related corruption.
In July 2023, Beijing appointed a PLAN deputy commander as the PLARF’s new commander and a PLAAF officer as the new political commissar. The decision to select officers from outside the PLARF to lead the service probably signals Xi’s distrust in PLARF senior leaders to instill discipline in the ranks.
Xi ordered the PLA’s top leaders to renew efforts to eliminate corruption and enhance CCP leadership over the PLA. Xi and other CMC members probably will increase scrutiny of PLA capabilities testing and political loyalty in the force.
(Excerpted from ‘Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China, a Report for the Congress by US Department of Defence)
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