Experts on Chinese politics said the strongly worded statement, published by state CCTV late on Thursday, was a message to other branches of the People’s Liberation Army calling on them to change their attitude and fall in line with President Xi’s policies.
In a symbolic attempt to rekindle revolutionary enthusiasm, Xi last week gathered military leaders in Yan’an, a rural town in Shaanxi province that was the base of Communist forces that fought the Japanese and later defeated the Nationalists in the Chinese Civil War that ended in 1949.
“There is no room for corrupt elements in the military,” Xi told military officials. “The root cause of these problems lies in a lack of ideals and convictions.”
In early June, he signed new audit regulations for the military.
Alex Payette, CEO of the Celsius Group, a Montreal-based consulting firm that specializes in the politics of China’s elite, said Xi was warning soldiers, “You’d better admit what you did before I find out,” echoing a similar corrections campaign waged by Communist Party founder Mao Zedong in the 1940s.
Payette said the removal was “a sign of things to come” and that “this was the first blow.”
