However, now it seems Xi is struggling to keep his brutal grip over the country. His dream to make China the biggest superpower is crumbling as China is mired in an economic crisis and Western powers are cornering it economically and militarily. At the same time, the rot is growing within his regime as Xi tries to purge his military of dissenters and corrupt officials.
As per media reports, the ruling Chinese Communist Party has recently expelled two former defence ministers as part of an ‘anti-corruption crackdown’, The two expelled ministers — Li Shangfu, who was sacked last year after going missing, and his predecessor Wei Fenghe — are set to be prosecuted in what was regarded as the worst scandal to hit the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
The rot within the PLA
With a campaign against corrupt generals, Xi is trying to keep his officials loyal to himself as well as turn the PLA into a one of the best militaries in the world. During a Central Military Commission Political Work Conference recently, Xi spoke of “deep-seated problems” in the PLA, whose root causes “lie in the lack of ideals and beliefs.”. The correct response, according to China’s leader, is for personnel at all levels, especially senior cadres, to “introspect, engage in soul-searching reflections and make earnest rectifications”.
As quoted by state broadcaster CCTV, Xi asserted, “The gun barrels should always be in the hands of those who are loyal and reliable to the party, and there must be no place for corrupt elements to hide in the military.” While China persists in flexing its military muscles with several neighbouring countries and vows to annex Taiwan with force, Xi harbours deep and abiding doubts about the loyalty and honesty of his most senior officers and their promises of combat readiness.
“The biggest challenge China faces in governance terms is the concentration of power in Xi’s hands.” Professor Steve Tsang, Director of the SOAS China Institute at SOAS University of London, had told ANI last month, Dr Willy Wo-Lap Lam, a Senior Fellow at The Jamestown Foundation think-tank in the US, concurred: “Xi Jinping has eroded norms and distorted the distribution of power throughout his decade-long rule…”Xi’s anti-corruption drive has targeted the military with dozens of top generals either sacked or investigated in the last 10 years. Besides the sacking of nine generals, the government also removed three senior executives from the state-owned aerospace and defence sector from the top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in December.The dismissed generals were from various divisions, including former commanders of the PLA Rocket Force, an Air Force chief, and a Navy commander responsible for the South China Sea, along with four officers in charge of equipment.
According to a Bloomberg report, US intelligence agencies had raised concerns about China’s military capabilities, citing corruption within the PLA. The report, which referenced sources familiar with US intelligence assessments, linked the dismissal of several high-ranking Chinese military officials to pervasive corruption in the PLA. The corruption is reportedly most severe within China’s Rocket Force, which has seen significant investment in recent years. Instances of malpractice include missiles being filled with water instead of fuel and the construction of missile silos with defective lids that hinder effective launch capabilities, the Bloomberg report said. Importantly, the Rocket Force also handles China’s nuclear weapons.
Can Xi win a war with a corrupt military?
These revelations have led US officials to believe that Xi might be less inclined to engage in major military actions in the near future. The corruption within the rocket force and defense industrial base is seen as undermining Beijing’s confidence in the PLA’s overall capabilities.
These developments represent a challenge for Xi, who has invested heavily in military modernization with the aim of establishing a “world-class” military by 2050. Despite a defense budget that has grown faster than the economy in recent years, the ousting of these generals and military equipment suppliers has cast a shadow over Xi’s efforts, raising concerns about the oversight of these vast military investments amid strategic competition with the US, particularly regarding Taiwan and the South China Sea.
In March, in a surprise development, a top Chinese military general cast aspersions on the PLA’s much-publicised ‘real combat-oriented exercises’ as ‘fake combat capabilities’ at a time when Xi has ordered it to prepare for “maritime military struggles” to win wars.
The sweeping purge of generals has weakened the PLA, exposing deep-rooted corruption that could take more time to fix and slow Xi military modernization drive amid geopolitical tensions, analysts have said.
Chen Daoyin, formerly an associate professor at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, had told Reuters that the crackdown on generals might dissuade Xi from risking serious clashes with other militaries in the next 5-10 years.
“Before realising how rampant corruption was, he drank his Kool-Aid and thought the military can really ‘fight and win battles’ as expected by him,” said Chen, who is now a political commentator based in Chile. “But how can the generals’ hearts be in fighting, if they are just busy lining their own pockets? Xi now knows that their proclamations of loyalty to the party and to the military ring hollow. I imagine this would zap his confidence somewhat.”
(With inputs from agencies)
