China says military efficiency up as graft campaign bites
BEIJING (Reuters) - The Chinese military's campaign against corruption has reduced waste and ensured more resources are spent on training the world's largest armed forces, its top newspaper said on Monday. The armed forces have become a focus of President Xi Jinping's determination to root out deeply-ingrained graft including bribery, which often takes the form of lavish gifts to officials or extravagant spending of government funds. Retired and serving officers have warned the problem is so serious it could affect the military's ability to wage war. In a front-page story, the official People's Liberation Army Daily detailed a series of steps that have been taken, including the return of all official cars in Beijing found to have been used in a way that is against regulations. "Efforts have continued to increase to resolve and clear out issues like spending against the rules, treating private guests on the government's dime, and so on," the newspaper said. "In the first quarter administrative spending and spending on entertainment has fallen in an obvious way." The upshot of this success means the military can now devote more of its time and resources to training for battle, the newspaper said. The Nanjing military region was now spending much more money than before on bullets and grenades, having discovered unnamed problems in its previous training regime, it said. The anti-graft drive in the military comes as Xi steps up efforts to modernise forces that are projecting power across the disputed waters of the East and South China Seas, though China has not fought a war in decades. China intensified its crackdown on corruption in the military in the late 1990s, banning the People's Liberation Army from engaging in business. But the military has been involved in commercial dealings in recent years due to a lack of checks and balances, military analysts have said. Several senior officers have been taken down in Xi's graft fight, including Xu Caihou, who was a deputy head of the powerful Central Military Commission. He died of cancer last month before he could be bought to trial. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Ryan Woo)
