Chinese army urged to consolidate 'good tradition'

Fan Changlong, vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission (CMC), on Friday urged senior officers to eliminate the impact of Xu Caihou's corruption case and strengthen political work.

Fan made the remarks at a seminar attended by senior officers of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and armed police forces, saying that learning the spirit of a conference on political work especially CMC Chairman Xi Jinping's remarks at the conference is a major political mission.

The PLA held the conference in early November in the revolutionary base of Gutian, Fujian Province, at which Xi urged the army to reflect on Xu's case, strengthen the army's ideological and political development and maintain the Party's absolute leadership.

Xu, CMC vice chairman from 2004 to 2012, was found to have fraudulently promoted officers, accepted huge bribes personally and through his family, and sought profits for others in exchange for bribes. The amount of bribes was "extremely large", according to prosecutors.

Fan urged the top brass to understand the harm that Xu's case and corruption brought to the army, and work to recover the army's good tradition and work style.

Fan stressed that political work must focus on enhancing the capability of the army. The work must abide by the spirit of the Party and conform to the criteria for strengthening the army.