context: Xi Jinping's 习近平 speech takes place against the backdrop of the most extensive military purge in the PLA's (People's Liberation Army) modern history. Since 2023, over a dozen senior generals have been removed, including two consecutive defence ministers, both commanders of the Rocket Force; most strikingly, He Weidong 何卫东 former CMC (Central Military Commission) vice chair and Admiral Miao Hua 苗华 former Political Work Department director. The scale is extraordinary: only four of the seven CMC members elected in 2022 remain in post. Particularly damaging were reports that Rocket Force corruption had compromised actual military capability. Xi's convening of a senior officer training class focused explicitly on ideological rectification, loyalty and anti-corruption is less a routine political exercise than a direct response to this institutional crisis, with the 2027 PLA centenary—and Xi's stated goal of making the military 'combat-ready' by that date—providing urgency. The emphasis on 'speaking the truth' and creating space for dissent is notable given that the systemic corruption likely persisted precisely because officers were incentivised to tell superiors what they wanted to hear.
Xi Jinping 习近平 addressed the opening ceremony of a senior military officers training class at the National Defence University on 8 April 2026, emphasising ideological rectification and political discipline in preparation for the PLA's (People's Liberation Army) centenary in 2027. Xi stressed
- ideological and political discipline
- officers must hold firm belief in Marxism and maintain absolute loyalty to the party's ideology, organisation and mission
- theoretical clarity must underpin political steadfastness
- senior officers to lead by example in upholding rigorous intra-party political life and fostering an environment where honest counsel and principled struggle are encouraged
- anti-corruption and conduct
- the party has no special interests of its own; all self-serving and corrupt conduct is incompatible with its nature and mission
- officers must reorient themselves toward the people, shedding bureaucratic airs and returning to the ethos of the revolutionary soldier
- rules and discipline
- no one stands above regulations; compliance and enforcement admit no exceptions or special cases