(TibetanReview.net, Jun07, 2015) – China has on Jun 7 reiterated that its military must continue to remain governed by the ruling Communist Party and not succumb to “liberal” voices calling for the separation of the two. In a front-page editorial, the official People’s Liberation Army Daily said that “enemy forces” were trying to infiltrate the ranks to push for the “de-politicisation” of the military and remove the party’s leadership role, reported Reuters Jun 7.
The newspaper was cited as saying that with a changing society, younger officers entering the forces lacked a proper understanding of the party’s role and its discipline requirements. “Liberalism has always been the great enemy of strictly maintaining political discipline,” the paper was quoted as saying, citing a 1937 warning by the founder of modern China, Mao Zedong.
“Still today, political liberalism floats up from the dregs from time to time,” the paper was quoted as adding.
Noting that the nation’s prosperity depended on party’s prosperity, the paper has said, “When political discipline is firm, then the ruling Party prospers; when political discipline is weak, the ruling Party falls.”
Reuters also noted that China’s military had made similar warnings in the past, including in April when it ordered its forces to be on guard against “liberalism” in order to avoid and purge internal corruption.
President Xi Jinping has, like his predecessors, repeatedly reminded the military to be loyal to the party amid an unprecedented anti-corruption crackdown which has led to many senior and some top officers being investigated and jailed. Many, however, see the anti-corruption campaign as merely a tool used by Xi in an internal power struggle to purge rivals and threats to his leadership.