What the actual fuck kind of curiosity is this? The PLA was formed by the CPC, the PLA operates as literally a part of the CPC, and the CPC is literally the entirety of the government of China. What would it even mean for the CPC to not have control over the military? That it would be a totally independent party into itself? That another party would have control over it? That it would be independent and could which party it would follow or even entertain political schisms within it? Like, this is just so weird.

Joseph Torigian, a professor at American University’s school of international service and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Xi’s view was that corruption could affect the military’s political choices at critical moments.

Yeah, because the military is literally a political structure. What the fuck?

“He believes that the military will only serve the party during moments of political crisis at home and in wars abroad if it has the right world view,” Torigian said.

Uh? Yeah. That’s precisely how it has always worked throughout all of military history.

“When a military leader is corrupt, that means materialism and consumerism have eroded the conviction and idealism Xi believes are necessary for the PLA to make the right decision.”

Tell me you don’t know fuck all about politics without telling me. This guy thinks “materialism” means “spending money on luxury” and he thinks “idealism” is when you believe in Marxist materialism. Who the fuck cares what this person thinks when they are this far gone?

Unlike the KMT, the Communist Party brought the PLA under direct party control.

What? But you literally just said:

The Communist Party’s armed wing at the time was a coalition of rebel forces fighting the ruling Nationalists or Kuomintang (KMT). The “Gutian conference” defined the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army as “an armed body for carrying out the political tasks of the revolution” and set up party organisations throughout the military.

The next two decades witnessed some of the defining moments leading up to the Communist victory of 1949, including the Long March, the consolidation of Mao’s leadership and the renaming of the armed forces as the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

So which is it? The PLA is literally the armed wing of the party? Or the PLA was something outside the party that was “brought under control”? This is ridiculous writing.

the party’s organisation department did not handle military personnel – a responsibility that fell to the CMC’s political work department.

Oh, so the military has its own commission that runs personnel. That seems normal.

The party’s top anti-corruption body, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, does not directly investigate corruption in the military either. Such cases are handled by the CMC’s own discipline inspection commission.

Uh huh. Military has its own internal affairs. Got it. So it’s pretty normal.

“So the party’s rule over the military basically hinges on the party’s general secretary being the sole and final decision-maker on the CMC,” the political scientist said.

Uh… You mean like having a command in chief? What is this article?!

The CMC “chairman responsibility system” sits at the top of this institutional structure.

Yeah! Exactly! What country doesn’t have this sort of structure?!

China’s constitution – adopted in 1982 – stipulates that the state CMC operates under a chairman responsibility system. Xi further strengthened the system after taking the helm in 2012.

OMG, so you’re saying that the PLA was actually more independent than literally any other military in the West and now that Xi decided that he should be the command in chief it’s some plot to give the party complete control over the military!? I swear you could say anything and Westoids would be like “that’s so nefarious!” if it involves China.

"The CMC chairman’s office cannot make all the decisions … The CMC must have clear guidelines on what are classified as ‘major decisions’ to be decided at the top and what reports shall be sent to the chairman’s office.

No shit. It’s called bureaucracy. FFS.

"That is a very delicate balance. It seems the trend now is to over-report rather than under-report.”

Yeah, of course it is. You just wrote:

a corruption scandal involving a former top general

Yeah. When you have a scandal like that, you reform the system to prevent it from recurring.

reject a professional military that remains neutral during a political crisis.

Do these people even understand what democratic centralism is? What the hell is neutrality under democratic centralism? Wait to see whether the CPC or the counter-revolutionaries are going to win politically? Madness. Pure journalistic madness.