Chinese officials filled missiles with water instead of rocket fuel in one example of pervasive corruption, according to a report on U.S. intelligence assessments of China’s military.
Sources familiar with these intelligence assessments, quoted by Bloomberg, said Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent extensive military purge was prompted by alarming levels of corruption within the nation’s defense infrastructure.
Widespread corruption had jeopardized President Xi’s ambitious plans to modernize China’s armed forces, the sources were quoted as saying. This revelation had led US officials to believe that President Xi is now less likely to consider major military actions in the foreseeable future.
One example cited in the US intelligence report was the discovery of missiles filled with water instead of the necessary fuel. Additionally, numerous missile silos in western China had been found to have non-functional lids, rendering them ineffective for launching missiles, Bloomberg said.
Newsweek could not independently verify the claims made by the U.S. intelligence assessments reported by Bloomberg.
Neither Chinese nor U.S. officials responded immediately to Newsweek requests for comment.
Beijing recently ousted nine high-ranking People’s Liberation Army officers from the country’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress. The move has been described by analysts as a political purge ordered by Xi to root out corruption within the military.
The revelations about corruption within China’s military come at a time when the nation has been actively expanding its military presence in Asia, raising concerns among neighboring countries.
Xi’s efforts to purge the armed forces of corruption may be seen as an attempt to improve the effectiveness of his military modernization program.
The sources, who remained anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the intelligence, told Bloomberg that the corruption within China’s Rocket Force and the broader defense industrial base was so deep-rooted that it is now believed to affect Xi’s propensity for military action in the foreseeable future.
This assessment suggests China’s military remains plagued with the problem of corruption despite Xi’s concerted efforts to root it out since coming to power in 2013.
Analysts are paying close attention to how China’s internal challenges might affect its ability to launch an assault on Taiwan.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, although the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has never governed the self-administered island in its seven decades in power.
Noel Celis/AFP via Getty
Xi has carried out a massive modernization of China’s Rocket Force, including building three sets of missile silo fields at Hami, Yumen Ordos, in the western desert area of China, according to Matt Korda and Hans Kristensen, analysts at the Federation of American Scientists. The missile silos sites are located in Xinjiang, Gansu, and Inner Mongolia provinces in China, respectively.
The Bloomberg report did not specify the exact site where the missile silo doors were said to have malfunctioned.
Despite these setbacks, the intelligence report mentioned by Bloomberg indicated that President Xi’s position remains intact as he appears serious about rooting out corruption. The crackdown on high-ranking military officials, some of whom were appointed during Xi’s tenure, underscores his continued dominance over the CCP.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.