More on PLA corruption

The South China Morning Post of March 11 has published an account of an interview done by Phoenix TV (a mainland-controlled satellite channel) with three retired PLA major generals who are attending this week's National People's Congress (national legislature) session. "'Everybody in society knows that in the PLA … you need to pay to join the party. Promotions to become leaders at platoon, company, regiment and division levels all have their own price tags,” said retired PLA Major General Yang Chunchang, formerly of China’s Academy of Military Sciences.

“It has affected the security of the army. It’s too horrible, as bribes are in the scale of several tens of million [yuan],” he said. According to the newspaper, Yang said the military was so corrupt that even when the graft-busters wanted to report a case, it would be blocked by someone who is more senior.

Major General Luo Yuan suggested the military’s top anti-graft agency, currently under the General Political Department, should be placed directly under the governing Central Military Commission so that it could have more teeth in checking other military units. The author of this blogpost notes that this idea is similar to the one mooted by Professor Zhang Jintian for the military courts.

The Phoenix TV interview with the generals has been taken down from the channel's website, but other versions are circulating on the Internet.