Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun is said to be under investigation for taking bribes, and in doing so, he represents the third defense minister within a row who has been brought to book for graft, with this coming as a result of President Xi Jinping’s sustained crackdown on People’s Liberation Army graft.
Former navy commander Dong Jun, in December, succeeded ousted Li Shangfu who is suspected of taking a bribe. Previously to Li, Wei Fenghe also faced such allegations. A long string of such purges has rattled China’s top military brass. There are fears of a larger system going bad.
This inquiry into Dong is part of wider probes into the PLA’s Rocket Force and other elite units. So far, at least more than a dozen senior military officers and aerospace industry officials have been dismissed in the past year alone to demonstrate Beijing’s intensified will to reposition its military-industrial complex.
The close associate of Dong, and the senior member of the Central Military Commission (CMC), Admiral Miao Hua, is also being probed for “serious violations of discipline.” His close connections with Xi Jinping, built when they both were working in Fujian province, have attracted a lot of attention.
Xi’s anticorruption campaign is intended to further strengthen the PLA’s combat effectiveness and boldness on disputed territories. Billions are put into military modernization while systemic corruption continues to occur.
According to experts, this is because corruption is embedded in practices rather than single incidents. Ten years under Xi has still not given China’s leaders the chance to present the military as a corruption-free force.
These prosecutions underscore the tension between what Xi has called a “world-class” military and the reality of internal dysfunction. There are profound implications for the shape of China’s regional ambitions as well as the military itself.
To Read More: Global