(TibetanReview.net, Feb08’25) – Taking to heart late Chairman Mao Zedong’s dictum that Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun, rather than by any sort of democratic consent of the governed, China’s top military command is reported to have rolled out a major education campaign to instil political loyalty to President Xi Jinping – an initiative aimed primarily at the top ranks of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The campaign follows the downfall of a number of top military personnel and defence officials in recent times, including for alleged disloyalty to the party leadership.
The campaign may be aimed at putting to rest speculations about Xi’s loss of grip or influence on China’s military or to otherwise addressing such a perception.
Citing a notice on Feb 4 to all personnel in the world’s second largest military force, the scmp.com Feb 8 cited the political work department of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC) as saying the campaign should focus on the “key few” – a term the ruling Communist Party uses to describe senior officials with decision-making power on critical matters.
And the CMC, the top decision-making and command body for the Chinese armed forces, is chaired by President Xi.
The report cited the notice issued on the final day of China’s Lunar New Year break as saying, “[We should] focus on the ‘key few’, to strengthen [their] learning and ideological transformation, to … truly achieve greater actual results in learning, understanding, believing and application [of Xi’s military thought].”
The notice was cited as saying the PLA must continue to use Xi’s political thought to “unite hearts and forge souls”, and study his thoughts on strengthening the military “deeply and persistently” by reading his original works repeatedly.
The report said the latest ideological campaign followed the CMC’s political work conference last June, where Xi vowed to root out disloyal elements in the military.
“We must make it clear that the barrels of the guns must always be in the hands of those who are loyal and reliable to the party … And we must make it clear that there is no place for corrupt elements in the military,” Xi was quoted as having said in an address to key military officials and political commissars at the conference.
The report cited a Beijing-based military observer as saying the November downfall of the PLA’s political and ideological chief, Miao Hua, could be one of the factors behind the delay in launching the follow-up education campaign since that conference.
“Miao appeared in the CMC’s top political works conference promoting loyalty and integrity in June. He was certainly the man designated to roll out the follow-up loyalty campaign then. But his disciplinary investigation must have disrupted everything,” the observer has said, declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The report pointed out that Miao was the second CMC member to be removed from his post since the current line-up took office in 2022. The first was former defence minister Li Shangfu, who was fired last October. Li and his predecessor, Wei Fenghe, were both expelled from the party in June for “serious violations of discipline”.
The removal of Miao and Li left the seven-member CMC with a rare double vacancy and only two serving members, apart from Xi and the two vice-chairmen – a circumstance not seen in decades – the report said.
Besides the CMC purges, nine senior generals – including past or current top commanders of the PLA Rocket Force, the former air force commander, and a few CMC officials in charge of equipment development and procurement – were stated to have been removed from their posts during the National People’s Congress in Dec 2023, signalling a sweeping anti-corruption drive.
The report said there were also signs that several senior managers with state-owned arms suppliers could be implicated in the campaign, as they did not follow the custom of sending seasonal greetings to their colleagues during the Lunar New Year holiday which began on Jan 29. They were also no-shows at their company’s seasonal celebrations and were taken down from the company website without explanation. None of these defence industry leaders were stated to have been seen in public for months.
“How to restore the belief and values among the soldiers and low-ranking officials after so many top generals fell will be very challenging for the new ideological campaign,” the Beijing-based observer was quoted as saying.