The Type 075 amphibious assault ship has a water displacement of 40,000 tons and is the largest of its kind across Asian navies. Photo: Xinhua
The Diplomat: The Invisible Threat to China’s Navy: Corruption
The arrest of CSIC’s chairman speaks to endemic corruption among China’s military shipbuilders. That spells trouble for the PLAN.
In the past two decades, China has invested heavily in its naval modernization program with the objective of building a blue-water navy. Crucial to that goal was the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), China’s leading military shipbuilding state-owned enterprise from 1999 to 2019. Yet the recent arrest of former CSIC Chairman Hu Wenming highlights the fact that serious corruption exists among China’s military shipbuilders, in spite of sustained graft fighting efforts.
In the past few years, important individuals of CSIC have been nabbed under corruption charges. Now, the man who once stood at the pinnacle of Chinese military shipbuilding has fallen to the same allegation. This development shows that China’s naval modernization is much more complex than simple growth. Likewise, corruption among China’s military shipbuilders is sure to have consequences for the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).
Read more ....
WNU Editor: It is not only the Chinese navy that is having a corruption problem .... China's former military chief of staff jailed for life for corruption (The Guardian).
