Defense/Military - 59. page

On June 28, 2012, the Ministry of Defense held a press conference at which their spokesperson, Geng Yansheng, announced that the State Council approved the establishment of Sansha City, a prefectural level city in Hainan Province, as a location where the Chinese Army may place a local military command. [Editor’s note: Sansha City is located in the South China Sea and is the southernmost city in China’s geographic location. The territory under its jurisdiction includes the islands and sea areas of the Xisha Islands, the Dongsha Islands, and the Nansha Islands.]

Source: People’s Daily, June 28, 2012
http://military.people.com.cn/n/2012/0628/c115150-18403372.html

On June 19, 2012, China Review News (CRN), reported on an article that People’s Liberation Army Daily (PLA Daily) recently published about PLA officials having only “Partial Loyalty to the CCP.” Although the CCP requires that all PLA officials maintain complete loyalty to the Party, many officials only show partial loyalty to the Party Central Committee, the Central Military Commission, and Chairman Hu Jintao. They talk loudly about loyalty but at the bottom of their hearts, that is not what they feel.

Source: China Review News, June 19, 2012
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1021/4/4/7/102144732.html?coluid=73&kindid=7151&docid=102144732

The People’s Liberation Army Daily published an article titled “Maintain the Purity of the Party Organizations and Cadres in the Military.” The article discusses at great length the corruption in the military stating that to maintain the Party’s purity, one must punish all acts of corruption. “History and reality show that corruption is the largest toxin that corrodes the Party’s purity and the most important factor that adversely affects cohesion, centripetalism and combat effectives of the military.” The article recommends to apply rule of law and strict discipline in the military to combat the corruption.

Source: People’s Liberation Army Daily reprinted by the Chinese Communist Party website, June 12, 2012
http://fanfu.people.com.cn/GB/18158643.html

One June 12, 2012, PLA Daily published an article titled “Maintain the Purity of the Army’s Party Organizations and Cadre Teams.” On the same day, many major websites in Mainland  China reprinted the article with a different title: “The People’s Liberation Army Admits that Its Greatest Enemy Is Corruption, Seriously Affecting Combat Effectiveness.”

"The Party’s purity is in opposition to all corruption. We must resolutely punish corrupt behavior; this is the inevitable demand for maintaining the Party’s purity. Both history and reality demonstrate that corruption is the biggest corrosive toxin on the army’s pure skin; it is the biggest factor that affects the cohesion and combat effectiveness of the troops.”

Source: PLA Daily, June 12, 2012
http://www.chinamil.com.cn/jfjbmap/content/2012-06/12/content_7555.htm

Radio Free Asia (RFA) recently reported on the news that the Chinese military is undergoing some adjustments. The official newspaper of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), PLA Daily, recently published a commentary by the No. 15 commentator, attacking the idea of nationalizing the Chinese military. The commentary called the whole notion a “strategic conspiracy by the hostile forces to westernize and divide China.” The commentary reemphasized the classic Communist Party policy of “the Party Commands the Gun.” However the RFA report questioned the background of picking up this nationalization topic which was typically an academic discussion. The commentary used the Soviet Union as an example of a failure that resulted from the nationalization of the Soviet military. The commentator also tried to link the anti-nationalization viewpoint to Hu Jintao’s requirements for the military, such as “maintaining discipline.” It is becoming obvious that the commentaries by the No. 15 commentator, along with many other articles published by PLA Daily in the past several months, are paying more attention to having a position that honors Hu Jintao’s leadership.

Source: Radio Free Asia, May 16, 2012
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/sd-05162012095617.html

On May 13, 2012, China’s National Tourism Administration announced that, after the government released a travel safety advisory, Chinese tourist groups in the Philippines have been speeding up the process of returning home. According to the records of the Tourism Administration, there were 682 tourists in the Philippines on May 13, 2012, and there will be 211 people on May 14 and 15. Most of the Chinese travel agencies have stopped sending travel groups (to the Philippines) or have even stopped accepting applications. Tourist flights from major cities like Beijing and Shanghai to Boracay, Philippines have all been cancelled. Based on statistics, China is one of the Philippines major sources of tourism. It has more than 1 million Chinese visitors every year.

Source: Official Site of Chinese Central Government, May 13, 2012
http://www.gov.cn/jrzg/2012-05/13/content_2136105.htm

Zhou Erquan, an associate professor at the College of the Air Force Command, recently wrote an article that was published in China Economy. Zhou called for a military attack against the Philippines, “Otherwise they will not awaken.” He suggested that the Philippines is still trying to make the situation in the South China Sea worse. "They figure that the United States is a country they can count on to be reliable.” The article expressed the belief that the United States will not engage militarily. Instead, the U.S. is only interested in muddying the waters and playing the role of judge. The author also suggested that China’s relationship with ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) will not be damaged by a small military conflict because most of the ASEAN countries would continue doing business with China. Zhou concluded that too much “peace talk” would send the wrong message, namely, that China lacks confidence. He recommended the strategy of “attack early, attack quickly, and attack heavily.”

Source: China Economy, May 3, 2012
http://www.ce.cn/xwzx/gnsz/gdxw/201205/03/t20120503_23291697.shtml

The People’s Liberation Army Daily recently published a commentary entitled “Communists’ Loyalty Cannot Be Incomplete.” It warns that Communist Party members must be on guard against “incomplete loyalty.” The commentary states, “The so-called ‘incompletel loyalty’ is the state between loyalty and disloyalty. For instance, a person may look loyal, but at the critical moment, be wavering; loyal when things are in line with his own preferences but complaining when his desires are not met; asking others to be loyal but treating himself differently; pledging loyalty at meetings but doing things his own way after the meetings; loyal when supervised but unable to discipline himself when alone. Instances like these are totally inconsistent with the requirements of loyalty to the Party.”

The commentary further pointed out that Communist Party members or cadres who are in the state of incomplete loyalty are doomed to be defeated. “In this sense, ‘incomplete loyalty’ is disloyalty.”

Source: People’s Liberation Army Daily reprinted at the Communist Party of China Website, April 26, 2012 http://theory.people.com.cn/GB/49150/17753358.html