Chinese military's anti-graft inspection teams target senior officers
Military inspectors are being sent to the four general headquarters to 'maintain pressure'
Anti-graft inspection teams from the military have been dispatched to the General Armaments Department of the People's Liberation Army, mainland media reported yesterday, a move one analyst said targeted senior military officers.
The teams from the CMC, the top decision making body in the military, had started to inspect the General Armaments Department on September 28 and would conclude their work on November 10, the report said.
A panel to head the inspection teams was set up in October 2013, with the primary aim of tackling corruption. The panel is headed by Xu Qiliang, vice-chairman of the CMC.
The inspection teams were sent on first-round visits to the seven military commands in December 2013 and embarked on a second round of inspections this February.
The move to send the teams to the general headquarters comes more than two months after Guo Boxiong, a former vice-chairman of the CMC, was expelled from the Communist Party. Other former senior military officials targeted in the campaign include Xu Caihou, who died of cancer in March.
"The PLA needs to maintain high pressure on corruption after bringing down Guo and Xu," said Shanghai-based military expert Ni Lexiong . "It will take a long time to weed out the network Guo and Xu built over more than twenty years. The inspection is also [aimed at] intimidating their associates."