Indiscipline, wavering political and ideological commitment of officers and personnel and corruption in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) are causing serious concern to Chinese President Xi Jinping and the senior echelons of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and PLA.
The indiscipline and lack of ideological commitment, which includes questioning of the PLA’s “absolute obedience” to the CCP, will worry the CCP leadership more because the PLA is the “party’s army”.
Accordingly, a major new education campaign focussed on instilling political loyalty to Xi Jinping has been launched. This has been accompanied by a raft of measures intended to further tighten discipline.
On February 5, the People’s Liberation Army Daily published a “Notice on Deepening the Education and Practice Activities Focusing on Forging Firm Political Loyalty and Winning the Battle of Hard Work” issued by the Central Military Commission’s Political Work Department — China’s apex military body responsible for the political education and ideology of PLA personnel.
It heralded the launch of the “annual major education of the entire army” and asserted that it would “strengthen political guidance.”
Emphasising the leading roles of Xi Jinping and the CCP, it stressed that “we must unremittingly use Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to unite hearts and build souls” and “must always regard the Party’s innovative theoretical arming as the primary task of building souls and educating people….”
Significantly, the ‘notice’ specifically mentioned the need to strengthen learning and ideological transformation of the “key minority.”
The reference to the “key minority” implies there are officers at senior levels in the PLA who are not in step with Xi Jinping’s thoughts or whose ideological commitment that the CCP leadership has assessed is wavering.
The PLA has been trying to recruit larger numbers of college graduates for more than a decade now, but senior instructors have been complaining that the young graduates question instructions and are not amenable to discipline.
The notice also added: “We must closely follow the needs of cultivating officers and soldiers’ values and growing up, and carry out special education focusing on strengthening the belief in strengthening the army ….”
The CCP Central Committee (CC) General Office “recently” issued the “National Party Member Education and Training Work Plan (2024-2028)” and instructed all regions and departments to conscientiously implement it.
The CMC was also instructed to implement it among party members in the PLA.
The work plan highlights its main theme as “of learning and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.”
Also, last week, Xi Jinping signed an order to issue the newly revised Regulations on Internal Affairs of the People’s Liberation Army of China, Regulations on Discipline of the People’s Liberation Army of China and Regulations on Formations of the People’s Liberation Army of China, which
will come into effect on April 1, 2025.
The revised regulations aim to “thoroughly implement Xi Jinping’s thinking on strengthening the military…achieve the Party’s goal of strengthening the military in the new era and build the people’s army into a world-class army.”
The regulations emphasise Xi Jinping’s thought and focus on training and discipline.
On March 3, the PLA Daily published an interview with leaders of the CMC Training and Management Department on the regulations.
They stressed that it included “ensuring the military is always in complete ideological, political, and operational alignment with the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission, ensuring absolute loyalty, purity, and reliability of the armed forces.”
It added that the regulations further refine the officer-soldier relationship by promoting unity, friendship, harmony, and purity within the ranks and ensuring the military remains strong and cohesive.
Corruption remains a problem in the PLA and China’s civil-military industry. Dozens of senior PLA rocket force officers have been dismissed since late 2023, with at least 13 PLA generals ‘removed’ from the National People’s Congress (NPC) — China’s version of a
parliament.
The size of the military delegation to the NPC has fallen and may shrink further. Of the 283 deputies from the PLA appointed to the NPC, there are now only 267. Fourteen have been removed on charges of corruption.
Reports suggest that for the last six months, a quiet purge has also been underway and at least eight senior executives in China’s sensitive defence industrial complex have been removed.
This includes the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), one of China’s top 10 defence groups, that owns some of the most well-known Chinese shipyards which build warships for the PLA navy and China’s aerospace and aeronautics sector.
There are indications now that this purge is likely to expand its remit and sharpen its focus to ensure that senior officials are politically and ideologically aligned with the CCP Central Committee and Central Military Commission, with “Xi Jinping at the core.”
The appearance of the ‘notice’ and the launch of a major political campaign clearly indicate problems in the higher echelons of the PLA.
There are indications of similar problems in the CCP, with Politburo Standing Committee member and director of the CCP CC General Office Cai Qi convening an all-China conference on the “need to continuously strengthen cohesion and forge the Party’s soul” and “enhance the Party’s political building.”
The CCP leadership is likely to take progressively tougher measures to instill the CCP’s ideology among PLA personnel and control corruption, especially as the next party congress draws near.
