A senior Chinese military official was dismissed from his post on suspicion of “serious disciplinary violations,” authorities announced Thursday, the latest example of a vast campaign to crack down on corruption within the armed forces.
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The Chinese Communist Party “has decided to suspend Miao Hua from his position pending an investigation,” Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Chinese Defense Ministry, said at a press conference.
The charges against Miao Hua, a member of the powerful Central Military Commission known to be close to President Xi Jinping, have not been specified. But “serious violation of discipline” is a euphemism regularly used by Chinese leaders to designate acts of corruption.
Since coming to power at the end of 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping has led a vast anti-corruption campaign, which has extended to the army. If its supporters see it as a tool of good governance, its detractors judge that it serves to eliminate its rivals on the political level.
Since the summer of 2023, nearly 20 military and defense industry officials have been dismissed, including the last two defense ministers.
On Wednesday, the British newspaper “Financial Times” even claimed that Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun had himself been dismissed from his post due to a corruption investigation, after the dismissal of his two predecessors. for similar facts.
The army spokesperson denied the reports, calling them “pure fabrications”.
“These rumor spreaders are ill-intentioned. China expresses its strong dissatisfaction with this slanderous behavior,” Wu Qian lambasted.
“The two cases are not necessarily linked”, but they illustrate “the persistence and resilience of problems of corruption and discipline” in the army despite “the considerable efforts made by Xi Jinping”, affirms to AFP Dylan Loh , assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University.
“Fierce” competition
According to US officials cited by Bloomberg, the intensity of this campaign is partly motivated by fear that this corruption will affect China’s ability to wage a potential war.
During a review of air force units in central Hubei province earlier this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for eliminating corruption and “strengthening preparedness for fighting”.
These successive layoffs take place against a backdrop of intensifying Chinese military pressure on Taiwan and around the territories it claims in the South China Sea.
Again Thursday, China promised to “resolutely crush” any attempt at independence by Taiwan, which escapes the control of the Communist Party.
Analysts say corruption within the military could call into question the level of combat readiness of the Chinese army.
“Corruption in the Chinese military rightly raises questions about its ability to achieve its military objectives and complete the “great rejuvenation” desired by Xi Jinping,” Heather Williams of the Center for Strategic Studies told AFP. and international, an American think tank.
But according to Victor Shih, a politician and expert on China’s ruling elite, “competition for top positions is so fierce that there could be mutual blame among officers, leading to endless cycles of arrests, new appointments and accusations.
