
China's army fielded missiles filled with water instead of fuel and arrays of silos with improper lids — examples of military corruption that led to a dramatic purge of top officials, Bloomberg reported, citing US intelligence.
Bloomberg, which did not name its sources, reported on Saturday that the intelligence indicated Xi Jinping's recent ousting of more than a dozen senior commanders in the People's Liberation Army stemmed from serious issues of graft such as these.
The purge went so far as to ax even the Chinese defense minister, Li Shangfu, who disappeared for two months before being replaced in October.
US intelligence sources told Bloomberg that corruption was so severe in China's Rocket Force and the wider PLA that it would most likely force Xi to recalibrate whether Beijing can take on any major military action soon.