Active release of military 'tigers' makes PLA more trustworthy

The Chinese military authority released a new list of 14 senior military officers at 17:00 on March 2, 2015 who had been investigated or convicted.

It is the second list of "tigers" released by the China's military within two months. The public announcement of an investigation on January 15 into 16 high-ranking military officers suspected of corruption was called "unprecedented" and "rare in history".

After 50 days, instead of "rare in history", the importance of the latest released "tiger" list is unprecedented.

It represents continuity and proves that the Chinese military is serious in anti-corruption campaign, according to a military officer. There will be no exception in front of military discipline and national laws and it is a new normal for China's military to administer its troops strictly according to laws, he added.

Compared with the first released "tiger" list on January 15, the second "tiger" list released on March 2 had its special meaning.

Most details of the 16 military "tigers" on the first list had been reported publicly before the release of the list on January 15.

Some details were reported by the state media, including the official probes into Xu Caihou, former vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission (CMC) and Yang Jinshan, deputy commander of the Chengdu Military Area Command (MAC) of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA).

Some details were reported by the unofficial media, such as the reports of Dai Weimin, deputy president of the PLA Nanjing Political College, Gao Xiaoyan, deputy political commissar of the PLA Information Engineering University, and Ma Xiangdong, director of the political department of the PLA Nanjing Political College.

In addition, some other details on Liu Zheng, deputy director of the PLA General Logistics Department (GLD) and Yu Daqing, deputy political commissar of the PLA Second Artillery Force (SAF), were shared on the WeChat platform (a Chinese voice message communication service).

However, most details of the 14 new military "tigers" on the second list had never been reported publicly before the release of the list on March 2, 2015.

"Releasing anti-graft news actively can help to make the military more trustworthy to the society," according to a military source.

Professor Li Lei from the Communication University of China (CUC) believed that the releasing of such news through the Internet (or APP) reflects the Chinese armed forces' active role in China's anti-corruption campaign and also shows that it will become a new normal for China's military to release important military information gradually through new media platforms.

Professor Li stressed that, from the communication perspective, China's military has played a leading role in breaking news reporting and has learnt to control the form, scope and effect of the public opinion related to the military. This will greatly counteract the negative impacts of rumors on important political and military news, he added.