Military corruption involves trading of ranks, embezzlement
China's Central Military Commission (CMC) is assigning anti-graft inspectors to different theater commands and key military departments, where they would for the first time be accountable to top military authorities to guarantee independence.
Ten inspection teams underwent two days of training in Beijing that ended on Wednesday, the Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday.
The training was attended by CMC vice-chairman Xu Qiliang, who urged the discipline inspectors to have a clear understanding of their mission and responsibilities, and provide discipline to help build a world-class army.
Previous inspectors were chosen by local military commands and appointed internally. The lack of independence in inspection work had deprived anti-graft efforts of their efficiency, Song Zhongping, a Beijing-based military expert, told the Global Times.
Song said that the current inspectors were selected from a third party to make sure CMC orders would be faithfully carried out.
Experts also noted that the assignment of those teams could be flexible, meaning inspection teams are likely to be reassigned to different theater commands every few years to prevent collusion and bias.
Enhanced anti-graft drive
As early as October 2014, the fourth plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China mentioned the reform in the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) discipline inspection mechanism, and President Xi Jinping, who is also the CMC chairman, called last November for the setting up of such inspection teams to address independence and authority issues in discipline inspections within the military.
Apart from staff within the CMC's discipline inspection commission, retired officials and officials from different theater commands could be recruited for such teams to objectively and independently investigate, Xu Guangyu, a senior advisor of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, told the Global Times.
The CMC Discipline Inspection Commission was set up in January when China reshuffled its four military headquarters - staff, politics, logistics and armaments - into 15 new agencies under the CMC, according to Xinhua.
The commission was also established as part of China's enhanced efforts to bust senior military officials amid a national anti-corruption drive. The investigations into former CMC vice chairman Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou were conducted after the Communist Party of China's political bureau received reports from CMC discipline inspection officials.
Military credibility
Unlike corruption in Party and government bodies, corruption in the military mainly involves embezzlement and trading of positions, said Xu.
In addition, severe corruption cases in some regions, where recruitment and promotion in the military involved bribery, have severely tainted the army's credibility," Su Wei, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Chongqing Committee, told the Global Times.
Teams sent by the CMC could also effectively collect tips and complaints from the public on discipline violations on the local level and report these to the CMC's discipline authority, experts noted.
Song added that support measures that require the cooperation of supervisors are expected to be introduced, as well as a detailed checklist of inspection tasks, such as the personnel management, project operations and conduct of officials' families.
In April, the PLA Army's Party committee inspected the 20th Group Army and an institution affiliated with the PLA Army for one-and-a-half months, according to the PLA Daily. The PLA Strategic Support Force also inspected its local units, the report said.
