'Missiles Filled With Water Instead of Fuel': Xi Jinping Furiously Purges Military of Corruption
The PLA suffers from the same afflication as the Russian Army.
[RedState] American foreign policy experts have long argued that China has been laying the groundwork for a permanent rise as a major global power, and U.S. politicians (particularly on the Republican side) have certainly counted the ways in which China is clearly our No. 1 geopolitical foe.
However, China's ascendency isn't without its setbacks, and at times it seems possible that China is closer to declining than rising. Their economy hasn't recovered since COVID-19, and Chinese President Xi Jinping has been dealing with more internal struggles than were previously let on.
One such problem for the leader of the Chinese Communist Party is growing corruption in his military, which recently came to a head - and a major purge.
The new report, which comes from Bloomberg, indicates a lot of problems for Xi as he tries to extend China's influence to counter the West.
Rampant corruption comes with the territory when it comes to having complete control over every aspect of your country, including the economy. According to U.S. intelligence, "corruption within the People’s Liberation Army has led to an erosion of confidence in its overall capabilities, particularly when it comes to the Rocket Force, and also set back some of Xi’s top modernization priorities."
The corruption, however, has resulted in some hilarious setbacks for Xi, according to the Bloomberg report, "including missiles filled with water instead of fuel and vast fields of missile silos in western China with lids that don’t function in a way that would allow the missiles to launch effectively."
U.S. think tanks and defense contractors believe that Xi aims to have a completely modernized military that is capable of taking on any global power by 2027. One such example is the rapid assembly of aircraft carriers and other naval vessels at a rate that far outpaces the U.S. Navy. But just because they can be rapidly assembled doesn't mean they're ready to go right away.
Posted by: NoMoreBS 2024-01-07 |