China revamps military inspections
Revised regulation to deter corruption, disloyalty: expert
China’s top military leadership body has institutionalized military inspections by publishing a revised regulation that experts said on Wednesday will deter corruption and disloyalty.
“Military inspection work faces a new situation and that’s why the CMC (Central Military Commission) decided to revise the proposed regulation of CMC inspection work, which was published in September 2013, into the latest version,” an official from the commission’s leading group office of inspection work told the PLA Daily on Wednesday.
“New situation” means a prolonged period of peace, said Xu Guangyu, a retired major general and senior adviser to the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association.
“Unavoidably, the Chinese military has seen some corruption due to the fast development of a market economy,” Xu told the Global Times.
Earlier this month Fang Fenghui, former chief of staff of the commission’s Joint Staff Department, became the latest senior military officer to be investigated in China’s ongoing anti-corruption drive.
Issues may arise when the PLA conducts exchanges with foreign militaries, Xu noted. For instance, some foreign regulations unsuitable for the PLA or bad habits from other military forces – such as loose discipline and weaker political awareness – can undermine the correct mindset of Chinese military personnel, he warned.
Therefore, Xu said, “the Chinese military needs new measures to overcome these new challenges.”
Senior Communist Party members “at the rank of military corps and above will be overseen by full-time inspection teams,” reads the newly revised regulation.
Regular inspection teams will supervise Party committees of the Central Military Commission, the army, navy, air force, rocket force and strategic support troops of the People’s Liberation Army as well as the armed police, according to the regulation that took effect Monday.
The document regulates principles, powers and duties of inspection teams and their staff and protocols they should follow.
Inspection teams are expected to expose flaws and weaknesses in Party leadership, management of Party organizations and implementation of discipline within the armed forces, the military official told the PLA Daily.
The regulation also includes articles on how military inspectors should exercise their duty according to Party rules and how they should be held accountable.
The commission is responsible for inspection work and that inspectors therefore enjoys unique authority. When high-ranking military officials are being inspected, they cannot interfere or interrupt the inspection, Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
With the revised regulation, military inspections become institutionalized to continually deter military personnel at all levels, prevent corruption, disloyalty and political problems within the military, Xu said.