By Lee Dan, The Epoch Times, Oct 21, 2005-

Recently, large-scale appeals from the military and riots by demobilized soldiers are frequent occurrences in China. The dissatisfaction within the military continues to worsen. Members of the military are quitting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), with quite a few such declarations published on the overseas CCP withdrawal web site. As a result, the CCP is tightening its control over the army.

Within the month of August 2005, five consecutive polices were issued by the CCP, the Chinese government and the military “to strengthen the CCP’s absolute governance over the military”, “to strengthen the examination and inspection system of political thoughts and of the military disciplines across all arms and services, including the military defense system”, “to strengthen the construction of the CCP organization and of the political department”, and “to strictly punish those who organize, attend, or support any parades of protest, demonstrations, sit-in protests, petitions, or appeals etc.”

External analysts believe that such an action demonstrates the military’s trajectory of departing from the CCP. The CCP understands the precarious and potentially crisis causing situation that it is in. Public opinion has stated that the CCP should not use the military as a tool for enforcing its one-party dictatorship. It should return the military back to the nation and it should also be the nation that manages its military.

Dissatisfaction in the Military Increases

It has been reported that in April 2003, 70 soldiers died due to a lack of oxygen while serving in Submarine 361 in the waters outside of Qingdao city. This tragedy resulted when a naval officer purposely locked the air valve of the submarine in protest against the unemployment that he would have to suffer after his quickly approaching retirement.

On April 10, 2005 about 1,600 retired military men from 20 provinces appealed in Beijing. They sat quietly in their military uniforms to protest in front of the west gate of the General Political Department. The protestors, many white-haired with age, were former soldiers and officers of the army and the air force.

The morale of the troops is unstable due to low remunerations, slow promotions, no job guarantee after retirement, and bad social practices. Considerable numbers of active soldiers have requested that they be transferred to civilian work, allowed to retire, or simply allowed to leave the military.

Many Soldiers Quit the CCP

“I am a 23-year-old soldier. I joined the CCP after serving in the army. People at my age all live in a society filled with Communist culture… After seeing and hearing so many things, I feel that the CCP is totally different from what I used to respect; it does not take public interest into consideration, and it is phony and evil. I hereby withdraw from the CCP and all of its affiliated organizations including the Communist Youth League (CYL) and the Communist Young Pioneers (CYP). I also void the oath I took before the bloody flag [1] upon my entry into the CCP to completely break away from the evil CCP. From now on, I will walk down a new road of my own choosing.

A major wrote, “After I read the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, I realized that I was truly cheated. I have decided to officially withdraw from the CCP and to not associate myself with the evil organization any more.”

“I am a demobilized soldier who transferred to civilian work. I was once a pilot, a political commissar, and a political assistant in a government agency, among other roles. I served in the army for 20 years. The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party enables people to truly see through the mask of the CCP. I hereby seriously announce a permanent withdrawal from the CCP.”

Are the Chinese soldiers able to read the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party? According to Lin Zhengyang, who served in the East China Sea Fleet for five in the 80s, the answer is yes. In most military units, there are internet cafes, while officers in command of at least a company are equipped with computers. When the soldiers receive emails from overseas, they will spread it around.

The CCP Wants to Tie up the Army

According to the articles in Asia Times, the leaders of the CCP are uneasy about the People’s Liberation Army’s [2] support of the idea that the military should foster a neutral attitude toward politics. Some of the high-ranking officers that were educated in the U.S. are said to agree with the army’s nationalization and expect the army to become more professional. The CCP, however, believes that such an idea may endanger its autocracy and ardently opposes it. Almost 5 million people have declared their withdrawal from the CCP, with the number rising everyday. These facts horrify the CCP.

According to some analysis, the CCP’s strengthening its control over the army is to firmly tie itself to the army so as to generate a more intimidating image while creating a scapegoat.

In one of his articles expounding the strategy for China’s revival, General Chi Haotian said, “I am very excited about the results of a survey, conducted by Sina Net, which says that 80 percent of China’s young people answered ‘yes’ to the question ‘Would you open fire on prisoners of war, women and children?’ These soldiers-to-be will definitely be willing to conduct mass massacre…as the war is approaching, I am full of hope for the young generation.”

The CCP’s propagandistic message that “the life of the CCP is above everything” and the way it encourages the soldiers to “fire at prisoners of war, women, and children” combine to push the soldiers to the abyss of their own destruction.

The Military Should be Nationalized

Analyst Zeng Jieming said, “The army should be the army of China and the army of the people rater than the private army of the CCP. The army should be loyal to a nation, but not to the evil and corrupt CCP.” He said, “The army must be nationalized.”

In addition, if the army is not nationalized, the soldiers are treated like second-class citizens, whose human rights and dignity not protected by the constitutions. The CCP can thus utilize “internal rules” and punish these military men at will, with no way of appealing a false charge.

Notes:

1. The flag of the CCP is in red, which is to symbolize the blood lost in the so-called revolution

2. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is the official name of the CCP army.

- Source: Trend of China’s Military toward Nationalization and Separation from the CCP