Hundreds of China’s senior military officials have completed an unprecedented 10-week ideological training programme that required them to study President Xi Jinping’s speeches, examine corruption cases and undergo military discipline exercises, according to details published by the People’s Liberation Army Daily.
The training camp, which concluded last week, was personally launched at Xi Jinping’s direction, the PLA’s official newspaper reported on Wednesday. The programme began on April 8 and involved officers from multiple branches and departments of the People’s Liberation Army, including generals, lieutenant generals and major generals.
During the opening ceremony, Xi delivered a speech urging senior military cadres to lead efforts to create an environment where officials “speak the truth, offer advice candidly and fight against wrongdoings”, according to the PLA Daily report. State broadcaster CCTV also released footage from the event showing hundreds of officers attending the ceremony.
The programme combined political study, military discipline training and reviews of corruption cases. Participants began their days with morning exercises involving marching formations, Communist Party oaths and songs focused on PLA discipline, the PLA Daily said.
The course included more than 40 theoretical lectures and over 10 focused reading sessions covering key military and political texts. Among the materials studied were the military’s discipline regulations, Xi Jinping Thought on Strengthening the Military and Xi’s speech delivered at the camp’s opening ceremony.
The officers were also presented with case studies involving officials accused of corruption. They reviewed written confessions, identified potential corruption risks and developed measures to prevent similar problems, according to the PLA Daily. Participants were divided into groups covering military operations, political work, logistics, equipment, technology and national defence mobilisation.
The article said the purpose of the programme was to ensure senior cadres understood “which red lines must never be crossed, which bottom lines must never be breached”. Officials studied, ate and rested together during the session and continued discussions in classrooms, cafeterias and dormitories, sometimes late into the night, the report said.
Not all officials who attended the opening ceremony completed the full course. Defence Minister Dong Jun, who was seated in the front row during Xi’s speech, travelled to South Africa earlier this month, according to the report.
Before the programme ended, on June 12, six individuals identified as role models addressed participants. They included Wei Changjin, a war hero who fought in a 1985 border conflict with Vietnam, and He Yuanzhi, a satellite communications expert and academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences who works with the PLA Academy of Military Sciences.
The PLA Daily report linked the training to the Communist Party’s historical emphasis on ideological education for senior officers during periods of change. It said that at major turning points in the party’s history, senior military leaders had undergone ideological remoulding.
The training comes as Xi’s anti-corruption campaign within the military continues. The campaign has led to investigations of dozens of military leaders, including senior commanders, while some officials have disappeared from public view without explanation.
Of the seven members of the Central Military Commission appointed at the party’s national congress in 2022, only Xi and Zhang Shengmin, the PLA’s anti-corruption chief, remain, according to the report.
Xi has repeatedly said the military’s anti-corruption campaign will continue. During the annual “two sessions” meetings in March, he said the armed forces “wield the gun” and that there could be no place in the military for officials who were not fully committed to the party or for those involved in corruption.
