Rocked by political purges and corruption, the People’s Liberation Army is being urged by Chinese President Xi Jinping to stay pure and committed to communist ideology, according to state media.
Mr. Xi said that the Chinese Communist Party’s military wing, the PLA, must deepen “political rectification” and maintain the “glory” of a people’s armed force.
The Chinese leader, who is also chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission, made the comments Wednesday at the opening of a training session for senior PLA leaders at the National Defense University, the official Xinhua agency reported.
The event in Beijing was livestreamed nationwide for PLA units.
Since 2023, Mr. Xi has led a massive purge of PLA leaders that resulted in at least 36 generals officially removed, ostensibly for corruption but also likely the result of so-called rectification — a CCP term for corrective political action and enforcing ideological conformity.
Unlike most national militaries, the PLA is strictly a CCP armed force tasked with the primary mission of protecting the party’s hold on power. National defense is a secondary priority.
“Our party and our military have continuously grown stronger through struggles against various erroneous ideologies and conduct,” Mr. Xi said.
Among those purged were officers at the very highest ranks, including six members of the Central Military Commission and two defense ministers.
The most dramatic ouster took place in January with the removal from office and arrest of CMC Vice Chairman Gen. Zhang Youxia, the second-most powerful military leader in China.
Charges for most of those purged were called “serious violations of discipline and law,” the euphemism for corruption and political unreliability.
Mr. Xi told the assembled leaders that the PLA must be guided by ideals and convictions and have “firm faith in Marxism and be loyal to the Party.”
“All thoughts or actions driven by personal gains and corruption are completely incompatible with the Party’s nature and purpose,” Mr. Xi was quoted as saying.
High-ranking military officials were ordered to restore and carry forward “the fine traditions of the party and the military, put down the official airs, and remain true to the identity of revolutionary service personnel.”
PLA leaders must present a “fresh political outlook” ahead of the 100th anniversary of the party army’s founding to be celebrated in 2027.
The Pentagon’s latest annual report on the Chinese military said corruption is widespread and investigations and removals have reached the highest levels of the military establishment.
“These investigations very likely risk short-term disruptions in the operational effectiveness of the PLA,” the report said. “Alternatively, the PLA could emerge as a more proficient fighting force in the future if it uses the current campaign to eliminate systemic issues enabling corruption.”
A senior defense official said it is difficult for U.S. intelligence agencies to assess the internal political dynamics in China.
However, the official said there are serious corruption problems within the PLA, combined with doubts about the loyalty of PLA senior leaders.
“Is Xi trying to root out corruption in every element of the PLA?” the official said. “He’s trying to root out the corruption that would threaten him and challenge him, potentially with too much power, because ultimately, Xi does not trust his military leaders.”
The lack of trust is based on Mr. Xi’s fear that a general or admiral will challenge him or undermine his power. That is the reason every PLA unit is assigned a communist political commissar, the official said.
Miles Yu, a former State Department policymaker for China, said the comments by the Chinese leader highlight the role of communist ideology in the PLA.
“Xi demands a ’pure’ Marxist military not out of strength, but paranoia over ideological deviancy, echoing Mao’s era where ideology trumped all,” said Mr. Yu, now director of the China Center at the Hudson Institute.
“In China’s communist system, the more things change, the more they remain trapped in the past.”
In a related development, PLA Gen. Yang Zhibin, head of the Eastern Theatre Command in charge of forces near the Taiwan Strait and East China Sea, pledged to enhance combat capabilities with enhanced political education and ideological purification.
“By drawing profound lessons from the serious disciplinary and legal violations of fallen high-ranking military officers, we must accurately target and root out the ideological contagion left by their ’pernicious influence,’” Gen. Yang stated in an article in the journal Study Times.
“We must truly eliminate ideological impurities, uproot erroneous concepts and correct deviations in ’world view, outlook on life and values’ from the depths of the soul,” he stated, according to a report in the South China Morning Post.
