‘Not even Mao Zedong could have done it’: the Chinese military adopts new measures to oversee senior commanders’ social life.
According to a source, the new restrictions were recently authorized by the Central Military Commission, which is led by President Xi Jinping, in an effort to tighten control even more.
According to a source, China’s highest military agency has issued a new set of laws restricting the social activities of active and retired senior officers of the People’s Liberation Army.
According to the South China Morning Post, the Central Military Commission, led by President Xi Jinping, recently approved the new restrictions in a move to tighten control.
The new guidelines were jointly issued by the PLA’s political and disciplinary sections.
The newspaper stated the guidelines featured “specific requirements and concrete demands in eight areas,” citing a front-page headline in PLA Daily on Monday.
According to the report, the rules establish a code of conduct for dealing with Communist Party officials, government agencies and state-owned enterprises, social organizations, the media, academic and research institutions, ethnic minority and religious groups, foreign institutions, and family members, as well as people they meet online.
“Political and disciplinary bodies will carry out their supervisory responsibilities, looking for and correcting any problems that are in violation of the rules or the law,” according to the article, which cited the PLA Daily.
“(They will) hold any of the leading cadres who have been found responsible for dereliction of duty accountable and instill a strong sense of party spirit among them, as well as encourage them to practice self-discipline, so that [the leading cadres] will live a clean social life publicly, as well as among their families and friends,” the statement said.
“(The goal is) for their social life to be principled, with boundaries, and based on rules.”
Ni Lexiong, a political science professor at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, commented on the development, saying it was an unusual step (for the PLA).
“This is an unprecedented move (for the PLA) to have a set of social life codes for senior cadres,” Ni was quoted as saying in the South China Morning Post.Lexiong stated.
“This was not done even during Mao Zedong’s reign,” Ni continued.
Ni noted that the guidelines were necessary to “keep up with changing times” since contact of PLA generals and retired officers with local party and government officials, companies, and social organisations was unavoidable, and the impact of social media and the internet world had expanded dramatically.
“For example, heavy liquor consumption was a tradition among some senior officers, even though it was prohibited after Xi became the head of the Central Military Commission in 2012,” he stated.
“I believe it will be spelled out again in the new rules that this is not allowed,” Ni was quoted as saying in the newspaper.
According to the article, which cited a PLA source, the new restrictions, which target military leaders, will also be implemented.
to retired generals, who are known to exercise significant influence on younger commanders.
“Many retired generals are active in religious and cultural groups, and their presence in these bodies can sometimes be used by others for profiteering, creating very bad social effects,” the insider said, according to the newspaper.
According to Zhou Chenming, a researcher with the Beijing-based Yuan Wang military science and technology think tank, the new guidelines are likely intended to erase the memory of two disgraced former CMC vice-chairmen and generals, Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou.
Guo and Xu are the most senior PLA leaders expelled by Xi in a 2013 anti-corruption crackdown. They were suspected of taking bribes from other officers in exchange for promotions.
Guo is receiving a life sentence for corruption, while Xu died in 2015 while being investigated.