3 ms·

So how is the Chinese military in regards to corruption? We all thought Russia still had a great military, but corruption had rotted them out that even their ve

So how is the Chinese military in regards to corruption? We all thought Russia still had a great military, but corruption had rotted them out that even their vehicles were using tyres that were apparently decades old and were exposed to the elements. And worse (for Putin), it gave them undertrained, disillusioned soldiers. How is it in China, in your opinion? My feeling is maybe the nationalistic propaganda works better on Chinese soldiers than on Russian ones, that they'll be fighting as patriotically as plenty of US soldiers going into Afghanistan...

lucubratory 3y ago
Corruption is absolutely a problem. It is also a recognised, talked about, and actively fought problem at the highest levels, which is very different from the situation in Russia. As well, China culturally has a lot more hope and nationalism than Russia does, and corruption has to hide a bit more from their very, very dedicated and hyper-nationalistic online citizenry, which by default lowers potential payouts from corruption (you can't just be like a Russian official and walk around with diamond encrusted watches no questions asked). China had a much worse corruption problem 15 years ago; it was so bad that it enabled massive CIA infiltration of their military and political apparatus, in a situation analogous to an American finding out that the Republican and Democrat party machines as well as several 3-star generals were on the Chinese payroll. The discovery of how significant CIA infiltration was in ~2010 was a huge shock to the system, and after they were finished catching and killing everyone involved they began the work of trying to root out corruption more seriously to destroy the incentive structure and culture that had allowed that CIA network to take root. It's still ongoing, but anecdotally it seems like they've been making significant success. There's a reasonably good YouTube video on the general topic of "Chinese military corruption" released recently by Perun, it's here: https://youtu.be/vhI_tTEE2ZQ?si=gtZ5YGWnV8q8TLcT https://youtu.be/vhI_tTEE2ZQ?si=gtZ5YGWnV8q8TLcT I have watched it, it is a generally good overview that doesn't get any major factual issues wrong. My only quibbles with it would be things like minor word choices, emphasis, etc.
nradov 3y ago
China's military is very corrupt. Much of the materiel has been straight up stolen by military officers and Party cadres. Chairman Xi has been purging elements of the military, partly to reduce corruption but also to eliminate potential political rivals. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-06/us-intelligence-shows-flawed-china-missiles-led-xi-jinping-to-purge-military https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-06/us-intell...

lucubratory 3y ago

Corruption is absolutely a problem. It is also a recognised, talked about, and actively fought problem at the highest levels, which is very different from the situation in Russia. As well, China culturally has a lot more hope and nationalism than Russia does, and corruption has to hide a bit more from their very, very dedicated and hyper-nationalistic online citizenry, which by default lowers potential payouts from corruption (you can't just be like a Russian official and walk around with diamond encrusted watches no questions asked). China had a much worse corruption problem 15 years ago; it was so bad that it enabled massive CIA infiltration of their military and political apparatus, in a situation analogous to an American finding out that the Republican and Democrat party machines as well as several 3-star generals were on the Chinese payroll. The discovery of how significant CIA infiltration was in ~2010 was a huge shock to the system, and after they were finished catching and killing everyone involved they began the work of trying to root out corruption more seriously to destroy the incentive structure and culture that had allowed that CIA network to take root. It's still ongoing, but anecdotally it seems like they've been making significant success. There's a reasonably good YouTube video on the general topic of "Chinese military corruption" released recently by Perun, it's here: https://youtu.be/vhI_tTEE2ZQ?si=gtZ5YGWnV8q8TLcT https://youtu.be/vhI_tTEE2ZQ?si=gtZ5YGWnV8q8TLcT I have watched it, it is a generally good overview that doesn't get any major factual issues wrong. My only quibbles with it would be things like minor word choices, emphasis, etc.

nradov 3y ago

China's military is very corrupt. Much of the materiel has been straight up stolen by military officers and Party cadres. Chairman Xi has been purging elements of the military, partly to reduce corruption but also to eliminate potential political rivals. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-06/us-intelligence-shows-flawed-china-missiles-led-xi-jinping-to-purge-military https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-06/us-intell...