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The Chinese military is historically beset by corruption and "leaks". The "Century of Humiliation" started when the Chinese navy was utterly destroyed by a newb
by hangonhn 6y ago
The Chinese military is historically beset by corruption and "leaks". The "Century of Humiliation" started when the Chinese navy was utterly destroyed by a newbie regional power Japan at the Battle of Yalu River partly because corruption had deprived the Chinese of enough ammunition for gunnery practices. Also, take any figures coming out of the current Chinese military with a grain of salt. The Chinese military budget is likely to be much, much bigger. Part of Xi's reform is to get rid of the fat in the Chinese military. It may be a while be China sees the fruits of those reforms.
- 9nGQluzmnq3M 6y agoBut is there real reform? I know they're "killing chickens to scare monkeys" (杀鸡儆猴), but the incentives for corruption remain unchanged. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_the_chicken_to_scare_the_monkey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_the_chicken_to_scare_the_...
- hangonhn 6y agoYeah I'm pretty skeptical as well but I've learned that just because someone is a competitor, we shouldn't deprive them of the virtues that we like to believe we have. It is very possible and I would argue probable that Xi is a genuine Chinese patriot (likewise I would say for Putin). Being a patriot, however, doesn't mean one can't also accept some amount of corruption if that furthers the long term goals. As people have already pointed out, even the US defense industry has some level of corruption too but no one can reasonably doubt the superiority of the US military. If we are frank with ourselves, the US is somewhat corrupt too yet it's always managed to cope with that.