Retired PLA general 'ashamed and scared' by corruption in China's military
Fighting capability compromised by the greed of many at the top, warns retired Luo Yuan, who likens problem to Qing dynasty's downfall
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 19 March, 2015, 1:22am
UPDATED : Thursday, 19 March, 2015, 1:22am
Minnie Chan in Beijing [email protected]
Retired People's Liberation Army major general Luo Yuan says he support moves to promote the PLA's spirit and traditions. Photo: Simon Song
A hawkish retired People's Liberation Army major general said he felt "a burning shame" and was "scared" at the number of top brass suspected of corruption.
"How come so many greedy guys get promoted to the top level? Are they qualified and capable of commanding an army to fight battles?" asked Luo Yuan in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
"The fighting capability of an army would be compromised as no soldier would fight for corrupt leaders … [they] would definitely disobey superiors who were promoted due to bribes," he added.
Luo is a vice-president of a Beijing think tank made up of retired military officers. From 2008 to 2013 he was a delegate to the country's top political advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
He said he felt shame every time a senior officer was snared in the anti-graft campaign, launched by President Xi Jinping after he took over the military, Communist Party and presidency two years ago.
"The appearance of those disgraced senior officials in our army like Xu Caihou and Gu Junshan , who were worshipping money, craving promotion, buying and selling ranks … such things could previously only be read about in history textbooks. Such behaviour was the key reason behind the defeats of the Qing dynasty army and Kuomintang military.
"But now the same is happening in our people's army. It's such a burning shame!"
Xu, a former vice-chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission, is the most senior military figure to be investigated in Xi's anti-graft campaign. His case was dropped after he died of bladder cancer on Sunday.
Gu, a top ally of Xu and a former deputy logistics chief, was charged with bribery and embezzlement last year.
Some reports said Gu was suspected of selling hundreds of senior positions. Investigators believe he took bribes worth 600 million yuan (HK$757 million) as part of a 30 billion-yuan scam.
Luo said he supported Xi's move to promote the PLA's spirit and traditions as a way to revive dedication and morale among the troops, even though some critics say the army's doctrine of "utter devotion" runs contrary to modern social values.
"It's prejudiced to say the [PLA's] spirit is outdated," Luo said. "In fact, our ideological work has gone awry because of slackness in past years of promoting its glorious revolutionary traditions. That is what has caused today's problem."
Luo also said the PLA's equipment still lagged behind that of the United States.
"We welcome all kinds of impartial assessments of the Chinese military by outsiders because the spectator sees most clearly," he said. "We must be receptive to the experience of foreign armies."
