Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Chinese authorities have called upon officers of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to uphold the Communist Party spirit and make the interests of the armed forces the top priority as the leadership is reshuffled and nationwide military reforms continue, the PLA Daily reported.
The official PLA newspaper ran three articles urging officers to sacrifice their personal benefits. “If each cadre thinks in his own way, [our army] will become like a plate of loose sand, and we won't be able to do anything," one of the articles said, adding that such disunity would have serious repercussions for the party and the nation.
The warning comes just a week after a new national logistics system that pools together all military resources, allowing them to be redeployed more evenly and efficiently, was formally implemented. Under the system, the navy, land and air forces will benefit more equally from the combined funds, supplies and facilities, and shared information.
The changes represent a major overhaul of the system. It aims to transform the tradition in which land forces had had priority over the other two sectors.
According to Milton Liao Wen-chung, a Taiwanese military researcher and a PLA specialist, the system had been in the works for more than seven years before being approved by President Hu Jintao, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission.
Mr Liao noted that the PLA had historically given more privileges to land forces—where most top military leaders had a background—against a backdrop of promotion dependent on factional loyalties.
Mr Hu has pushed through reforms since he took over as military chief from Jiang Zemin in 2004, including the demobilisation of 200,000 soldiers last year, lowering the PLA's active strength to 2.3 million. Last June, Mr Hu also promoted 10 senior officers from departments that oversee party work, ideology, discipline, culture and propaganda to the rank of full general to strengthen his grip on the army and reduce Jiang’s influence.