Chinese general calls for crackdown on ‘fake combat capabilities’ in the military
- He Weidong’s message seen to be related to weapons procurement and problems with training
- It comes after a leadership shake-up and as the PLA is under pressure to boost combat readiness
General He Weidong, the second-ranked vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during a discussion with a People’s Liberation Army delegation on Tuesday, according to minutes from the meeting made available to media.
Analysts say the message from He – China’s No 3 military official – was brief and ambiguous, but could relate to the procurement of flawed equipment, and also deception among the ranks during training.
James Char, a research fellow with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said He’s remarks could be to do with “the recent exposés on procurement violations within the PLA”.
Char said they would have implications on the quality of military hardware “and the PLA’s performance on an actual battlefield”.
Fu Qianshao, a former equipment expert with the PLA, said He appeared to be partly referring to the procurement of flawed weapons, which Fu also noted could affect the military’s combat capabilities.
“The weapons and equipment should reach the technical standards,” Fu said. “So counterfeiting will surely have an impact on how they function.”
