Shocking Chinese Military Corruption Exposed

Starting in July of 2023 a sweeping campaign targeted Chinese generals, particularly within the PLA Rocket Force in what amounted to a purge. This probably wouldnt have been such a big deal if it a couple of infantry generals but we’re talking about one of the most important parts of the PLA that oversees their tactical and nuclear missiles. This branch has seen some of the biggest increases in funding and modernization in recent years.

Written by: Chris Cappy and Tony
Edited by: Savvy Studios

Merch:

It’s job is considered one of the most important to Chinese military strategy from their perspective it helps to deter US warships in the south china sea. It’s hard for me to impress upon you how key they really are to China’s future plans, the Rocket Force and its silos are located throughout the entire country, not just one theater command. And we’ll see with great purge come great consequences because the firings have temporarily weakened the PLA. But Unlike the purge in 2015, which was believed to have aimed at eliminating political opponents, the current purge in 2023 is thought to be primarily focused on combating corruption.

Where are we inferring this from? Partly because On January 6th, Bloomberg published a report stating that anonymous US assessments claimed the missiles of the Rocket Force were filled with water instead of fuel. Additionally, the report mentioned the presence of malfunctioning missile silo lids in western China, which could potentially hinder effective missile launches. However, from a technical standpoint, it is highly improbable for a missile to be filled with water. It is important to note that only one type of missile in the PLARF inventory, the DF-5, is liquid-fueled. Normally, liquid fuel is loaded into the missile shortly before launch, making it unlikely that water would be present inside the missile itself. It is plausible that water was found in the fuel tank designated for the DF-5 missile, as some officers might have stolen the fuel for illicit purposes.

Furthermore experts on China have since called into question whether this might come down to a mistranslation between English and Chinese. There are phrases or idioms in China whose meaning can easily be mistranslated. In this case there is a theory that the term for “water down” or it might have been an idiom for “inflating or padding” which was misinterpreted to mean the missiles were literally filled with water. It's tough to get confirmation since the source of this intelligence was anonymous. If you want to dive deeper into this I strongly recommend Perun’s outstanding video on Chinese corruption and the channel Sandbox also did great coverage of the topic.

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#MILITARY #CORRUPTION #WAR

[FSAPOJake]

Vlad Vexler made an absolutely spot-on video about this and I highly recommend it.

By the way, "water in missiles" is a mistake in translation. There is corruption with military officials and soldiers stripping materials from rockets, but they're not necessarily literally putting water in the rockets. Saying something is filled with water is a Chinese way of saying something is out of order, usually due to corruption. It's like when Americans say something has "shit the bed" when it breaks. Not meant to necessarily be taken literally.

[PerunAU]

Cheers for the shout out mate, all the best.

[novakaine]

Tsun Tzu once said, “an incompetent underling is more damaging than a competent enemy.”

[timehaley]

It's better to overestimate your opponent and be pleasantly surprised, than to underestimate him and be rudely surprised.

[MrAwsomenoob]

I found perun's video "how corruption destroys armies" to be very insightful. Truth is, like russia, we won't ever find out how deep it goes until "it kicks off." hoping for Russia levels of corruption and military incompetence is not something i'd plan a strategy around.

[gregparrott]

One aspect that clearly has not been corrupted is the amount of training and expertise used to achieve synchronized parade marches.

[arrjay]

I think the comment you made about not underestimating your adversaries was a good one. The British never thought the Zulus could beat them.

[sagittariusann]

It costs US$1, 000 for the US military to purchase a mug. Who is more corrupt?

[ajhm]

A few years ago, NORINCO sent some wheeled armored vehicles to be tested by the Argentine Army, they were supposed to be amphibious and in the first test in a swamp they sank, the exhaust pipe heated the doors and they did not close properly, apart from that they couldn't touch each other. They were supposed to be demonstration vehicles, with better quality than the standard ones. It was learned that the materials were of poorer quality because the middle managers were profiting from the company.

[MayorMcC]

The true patriot commissar would quiz soldiers on the Bill of Rights and the constitution

[icollectstories]

The problem with using chunks of solid rocket fuel for cooking isn't just because it cannibalizes munitions, but that the soldiers were supposed to have fuel for their stoves, and that was just part of the supplies that were disappearing before they got to the soldiers in the field.

[glennchartrand]

Another possibility for the "water" report is that their ballistic missiles are fueled with kerosene.

I have no trouble believing that a General would sell regular kerosene ($2 per gallon) to the rocket force as rocket grade kerosene (about $100 per gallon)

One of the reasons rocket grade kerosene is so expensive is they remove every trace of water, because it would damage the engines.

So if you have regular jet fuel or kerosene sitting in ballistic missiles, or the fueling systems for those missiles, you have a massive and very expensive problem to fix.

[eldridgep]

Perun did a great video on this as well which went into great depth if you want more background. Keep up the good work Cappy.

[MaxwellAerialPhotography]

One more thing to keep in mind, is that under Xi Jingping, “anti-corruption campaigns” have often been a thinly veiled mechanism for ousting poltical rivals, especially those loyal to the previous Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao factions.

[daniele]

This channel has become my favorite source of information about the world's militaries. I don't know how you dig up so much info, but you deserve the subs.

[GMod_]

It’s always nice to come home from school and watch on of your “newest” videos.

[ughettapbacon]

Did anybody notice later when Compton was playing darts they were wagering cigarette packs instead of money? I always loved that little detail

[marcm.]

As always excellent video, and thank you for mentioning two of my favorite YouTubers

[abraxasnl]

Excellent shoutouts to Perun and Sandboxx. Both awesome channels!

[montecorbit]

At 6:04
Rocket fuel to cook hot pot....

During the Vietnam conflict, US soldiers would sometimes use C-4 plastic explosives to cook things with. C-4 is pretty stable, it burns that does not explode when you put it in a fire.

The MythBusters did a myth on this one time....