CNN
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A widespread anticorruption campaign within the senior levels of the Chinese military and government is impeding its push to build up its military by 2027, the Pentagon says in a new report released on Wednesday.
“In the second half of 2023 alone, at least 15 high ranking military officials and defense industry executives were removed from their posts for corruption … This wave of corruption related investigations and the removal of senior leaders may have disrupted the [People’s Liberation Army’s] progress toward its 2027 goals,” a senior defense official told reporters this week in a briefing on the China Military Power report, which is delivered to Congress annually and outlines China’s military and security developments.
The official added that it is “having some impact already” and will “inevitably” come up again as the Pentagon continues to track the campaign’s impact on development and acquisition of military capabilities, as well as major construction projects and personnel.
The report also says that China is “almost certainly” learning from Russia’s war in Ukraine and applying those lessons to its approach to Taiwan. Specifically, the senior defense official said China is looking to “advance their objectives” in the information space and has seen the sanctions against Russia as a sign China needs to be more self-reliant to be able to withstand additional penalties.
The report also said China has an estimated 600 operational nuclear warheads, up roughly 100 since last year’s report was released. It says that they will have more than 1,000 operational nuclear warheads by 2030, and while the senior defense official said it was in line with their previous assessments, they added that they certainly expect China will “continue expanding and modernizing their force” beyond 2030.
China’s leader Xi Jinping has laid out an ambitious plan to “modernize” the PLA by 2035 and transform it into a “world class” military by mid-century. American officials believe Xi has instructed the PLA to be ready to invade the self-governing island of Taiwan by 2027, though they have stressed that doesn’t mean an invasion will occur in 2027.
Amid the push, though, Xi is increasingly turning against members of his own government and struggling with disloyalty in the ranks, CNN has reported. Indeed, the Pentagon’ report pinpoints numerous recent incidents of senior officials within the military, government, and defense industry, being fired or investigated.
In November, for example, a top military official viewed as a close protégé of Xi was suspended and placed under investigation for corruption. The senior official also said that while more senior people within China’s military get the most attention, personnel are purged “at all levels.”
Wednesday’s report says that political leaders in China “probably view” the campaign against corruption “as a necessary tool to build a professional fighting force as part of the PLA’s 2027 modernization goals.”
But that “frequent turnover and replacement of high-level personnel” specifically is what is impacting the PLA’s 2027 goal, the senior defense official said. For example, on a major construction project or within their defense industry, the official said, turnover at that scale could slow down projects.
Experts say corruption within the defense industry in particular is relatively unsurprising given the relentless focus China has had on increase its procurement of weapons systems and warships. Victor Shih, a political science professor at the University of San Diego, previously told CNN that the push to modernize the PLA Navy alone provides plenty of opportunities for corruption.
“[O]nce they uncover corruption in one place or involving one senior official, there’s sort of a bit of a spiraling kind of effect where it inevitably seems to draw in additional officials,” the senior official said. They added it was unlikely Xi would abandon the anticorruption campaign, as he has made it a “hallmark of his tenure.”
“I think they’ve identified it as something that really has posed great risks to the political reliability and ultimately the operational capability of the PLA,” the official said, “so I would certainly expect them to continue to pursue the anticorruption campaign.”
CNN’s Nectar Gan contributed to this report.