Seventeen more generals add to pledges of allegiance to Xi Jinping

The yesterday published two full pages of speeches by 17 generals vowing allegiance to their commander-in-chief, President Xi Jinping, the third such campaign by the official military newspaper in the past six weeks.

Analysts said the campaign indicated that Xi was facing severe challenges at home and internationally and that shoring up the loyalty of the army was a must for him.

"China is facing great pressure from outside, especially simmering tensions in the East China Sea with Japan over the Diaoyu islands, so the PLA should be ready for a possible conflict with Japan's self-defence force," Ni Lexiong, a military expert, said in Shanghai. "Corruption is fatal to an army. However, it's an open secret that corruption is rampant in the PLA, with disgraced former deputy logistics chief Gu Junshan being a typical example."

Gu, a former lieutenant general, was charged late last month with embezzlement, bribery, misuse of state funds and abuse of power by the military procuratorate, or prosecutor's office. It is rumoured that he spent hundreds of millions of yuan buying his way through the ranks.

"Xi realises that it's impossible to bring down all corrupt officers involved in buying and selling military ranks, as he still needs military leaders to train grass-roots soldiers," Ni said.

"In order to maintain the army's morale, he would prefer to keep a gate open to tainted officers who were willing to pledge allegiance to him."