Retired PLA general 'ashamed and scared' by corruption in China's military
Fighting capability compromised by the greed of many at the top, warns retired Luo Yuan, who likens problem to Qing dynasty's downfall
A hawkish retired People's Liberation Army major general said he felt "a burning shame" and was "scared" at the number of top brass suspected of corruption.
"How come so many greedy guys get promoted to the top level? Are they qualified and capable of commanding an army to fight battles?" asked Luo Yuan in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
"The fighting capability of an army would be compromised as no soldier would fight for corrupt leaders … [they] would definitely disobey superiors who were promoted due to bribes," he added.
Luo is a vice-president of a Beijing think tank made up of retired military officers. From 2008 to 2013 he was a delegate to the country's top political advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
He said he felt shame every time a senior officer was snared in the anti-graft campaign, launched by President Xi Jinping after he took over the military, Communist Party and presidency two years ago.
"The appearance of those disgraced senior officials in our army like Xu Caihou and Gu Junshan , who were worshipping money, craving promotion, buying and selling ranks … such things could previously only be read about in history textbooks. Such behaviour was the key reason behind the defeats of the Qing dynasty army and Kuomintang military.
"But now the same is happening in our people's army. It's such a burning shame!"