China’s unrelenting anti-corruption drive will improve – not compromise – the military’s fighting strength, two signed commentaries published in the PLA Daily have argued.
The articles – one on Friday and the other on Saturday – in the People’s Liberation Army mouthpiece called corruption the “number one killer” of battle effectiveness and cautioned against both “unrealistic optimism” and “harmful pessimism” about the anti-graft campaign – suggesting the crackdown on corruption will not end any time soon.
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It said the investigations into top generals Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli sent a clear signal that the Communist Party was willing to go as far as it could to purge any corruption – a source of political risk in the military.
The article was similar in tone to the one on Friday written by a researcher at the National Defence University.
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“Corruption is the first killer of combat ability,” it said.
