China's PLA names 16 senior commanders as graft suspects
Military releases long list of commanders under investigation for alleged corruption
The military made a rare move yesterday by listing 16 senior commanders to come under investigation for graft over the last year.
The People's Liberation Army has singled out corrupt individual officers over the past two years but never so many at one time. The list includes familiar names as well as new additions, including two from the logistics department, a PLA unit that oversees military spending.
Lieutenant General Liu Zheng , who replaced Gu Junshan as the department's deputy director in late 2012, has been investigated since November, according the 's microblog. Gu was also charged with bribery and embezzlement in March. Prosecutors have also detained Major General Fu Linguo , the deputy political commissar of the department's general office, since May.
Yu Daqing, former deputy political commissar of the Second Artillery Corps, China's missile force, has been investigated since December.
The other generals on the list include Lieutenant General Fan Changmi , deputy political commissar of Lanzhou Military Area Command; former deputy commander of the Chengdu Military Area Command Yang Jinshan ; and various officials and academics rumoured of involvement in the corruption scandals of Gu and former Central Military Commission vice-chairman Xu Caihou .
Macau-based military observer Antony Wong Dong said the list was just "the tip of the iceberg" of widespread graft in the PLA. "[President Xi Jinping ] was forced to wage such a massive war on graft in the army because corruption has deeply corroded the PLA's morale," he said.
A commentary hailed the list as a sign of the army's determination to weed out corruption: "It is shocking, but also encouraging."
Zhejiang Television also reported that Guo Zhenggang , 45, son of former CMC vice-chairman Guo Boxiong , was promoted to deputy political commissar of the province's military region. He was promoted to major general. The announcement comes amid intense speculation that Guo Boxiong may be implicated in Xu's downfall.
Military experts said Guo Zhenggang's promotion did not mean his father - or even he - was "out of the woods". "Xi has broken a lot of game rules that set by his predecessors," a retired senior navy colonel said.
"But the arrests of Xu and former security tsar Zhou Yongkang reflect that everyone can be targeted, irrespective of whether they are retired or incumbent officials in the government or the army."
