China¡¯s army infiltrated by ¡®peace disease¡¯

[Randy W]

in the SCMP

 

China’s army infiltrated by ‘peace disease’ after years without a war, says its official newspaper

Anti-corruption inspections to root out falsifying of military training data take on added importance in drive to boost forces’ combat-readiness

 

The Eastern Theatre Command, former power base of Xi Jinping, is among the theatre commands being monitored. Photo: Handout

 

To prevent some military officials falsifying training data, the Central Military Commission (CMC) has since November been sending military disciplinary officers – representing the PLA’s anti-graft watchdog – to the army’s five theatre commands as inspectors, to monitor drills.

 

“Peace disease has been a common symptom in our military for decades,” the PLA Daily editorial read. “If we do not make up our mind to eliminate those evils, we must pay a heavy cost in the event of a war.

“We can only stop a war when we are able to fight.”

. . .

“Apart from corruption, job omission is the next key symptom of ‘peace disease’ in the Chinese military that should be cured,” Yue said, referring to some military commanders’ creation of fake data relating to routine military drills.