PLA commissar says lax discipline at top invites disaster
Top figure in Guo Boxiong's former power base says key to ruling army is managing its generals
Failure to strictly discipline generals would bring "endless disasters" to the army, a Communist Party newspaper on Sunday quoted the political commissar of the Lanzhou military command as saying, amid renewed speculation over the fate of retired military chief Guo Boxiong.
Asked by People's Daily how the People's Liberation Army's Lanzhou Military Area Command - Guo's former power base - had beefed up its discipline after recent graft cases, Lieutenant General Liu Lei said such cases had underscored a perception that some leading generals felt they were above the law.
"The key to governing a country is to manage its officials, just as the key to governing an army is to manage the generals. Being lax in administering officials would bring endless disasters," Liu told the newspaper, which is seen as a mouthpiece for the party.
"For a general to manage his men, he has to manage himself well first."
The comments are likely to fuel speculation over the fate of Guo, whose son Guo Zhenggang was among 16 major generals snared this year in President Xi Jinping's crackdown on corruption in the military.
Another 16 senior commanders and generals, including Xu Caihou , who like Guo Boxiong was a vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, were detained by graft-busters last year.