China's military purge: Are Chinese missiles filled with water?

After more than a dozen senior Chinese military officials were removed from office in just the last week of December and a slew of further reaching corruption charges, dismissals, and even a mysterious death or two massed throughout the rest of 2023, it has become evident that something is seriously wrong in the highest echelons of China’s Defense apparatus. And according to an explosive new report from Bloomberg, the problems may be so extensive that they’re forcing Chinese President Xi Jinping to rethink his plans for a Taiwan invasion.

Let’s talk about these reports of Chinese missiles being filled with water, missile silos with doors that don’t open, and what now appears to be the largest crackdown on Chinese military leadership in the modern era.

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Bloomberg Report:

[keithstuart]

Dear Alex Love your Program! Just a little factoid that may help. " Guan Shui" literally "Fill water " is a Chinese blanket slang term used to describe replacing any material with cheaper substandard material to increase your profit margin.

[tbe]

In 2014, Chinese media published a story about an army general who was found with piles of cash in his house. They said it took officials two weeks to count and 12 trucks to haul away.

The cash was neatly stacked in boxes, each with the name of the soldier who had paid the bribe in exchange for promotion up the chain of command.

[mattmoriarty]

Dude, you are SO GOOD at your job! What a breath of fresh air in this otherwise toxic landscape of internet bulls**t. Don’t ever change, Alex.

[cacogenicist]

The other thing about anti-corruption campaigns and purges in China is that they often aren't actually motivated by fighting corruption -- it's an excuse to go after political enemies, or the friends of political enemies. Because there's corruption everywhere in China, so you can always find it, if you need to.

[matthewnewton]

By the way this is excellent reporting. As a person who deeply cherishes critical reasoning your explanation of the specific Chinese phrase that may have gotten lost in translation brought joy to my heart.

You’re a great reporter and a totally trustworthy news source. If I had 3 thumbs or an extra hand I’d give you 3 thumbs up.

[lucasokeefe]

The clip of Gerard Butler looking very confused at his flight briefing was very funny.lol

[colekarrh]

The fact that this is being seen from the out side means it could just be the tip of the iceberg

[michaelimbesi]

Missiles filled with water might actually be missile silos filled with water. I.e. the construction was shoddy and the silos weren’t waterproofed properly, allowing groundwater to infiltrate through the concrete faster than whatever sump pump the silo had could remove it, leading to the floor of the missile silo flooding and damaging equipment. This was apparently a problem that the Russians had in the 90s because people stole the pumps for the scrap copper in the motors.

[BoraHorzaGobuchul]

One should keep in mind that purges in autocracies/totalitarian states do not happen to get rid of corruption; it is only a pretext, as all are actually engaged in corruption, and it's mainly the result of the infighting. It's the same here in Mordor

[vikingspud]

Thanks Alex. I appreciate your commitment to journalistic skepticism and explanation of hardware details that I had not heard in other articles. Keep up the good work.

[marcuslandry]

My wife from China got really pissed at me when I told her that there wasn't anyone I could pay in the US to speed up her son's green card issuance. Everyone in China knows how to grease the wheels of government. How could I not know how? Corruption is a long accepted way of life in China.

[jasonpatterson]

能骗就骗 "If you can cheat, then cheat."
It's become a fundamental part of Chinese society on all levels. If you can get away with doing less, cutting corners, being dishonest for profit, etc, then do so, regardless of the cost to others.

[arthas]

That "expert in the room" thing reminded me of being a government contractor doing constsuction. Ive been in tons of places i wasnt cleared for, one time i got lost and wandered into some kind of drone control room. The security guy saw my clipboard and clothes and thought i was an inspector and everyone else probably assumed that a spy wouldnt walk around in a high viz vest

[digitalnomad]

Another possibility that should be considered, though I get it from a work of fiction. Tom Clancy was at least a student of the Soviet Union, the military apparatus in particular. In his bestselling story Red Storm Rising, about a 80s era conventional attack on West Germany, there was a purge of Soviet officers for corruption and readiness offenses before the attack. As endemic as corruption was in the Soviet system, they were willing to take the stability and political risk to clean up aspects of the corruption that pertained to readiness, to ready the Soviet Army for action. It could be that what we're seeing is an effort to enhance readiness to clear the deck for action, particularly in light of the educational shortcomings of the Russian conquest efforts in Ukraine. It is possible that we're witnessing an actual phenomenon, not disinformation, but are drawing the wrong conclusions from the evidence. But if there are serious readiness problems, it will probably take a few months, at least, to sort them.
Imminent invasions or not, I would hate to see an ACTUAL readiness purge, for obvious reasons.

[erasmus_locke]

"Lieutenant Xian! Did you fill the rockets with liquid Hydrogen and Oxygen rocket fuel?"

"Yes General Hao! I filled them with liquid H2O!"

[MaziarYousefi]

MSM isn't and never should be considered as a technical source on military matters.
Thanks for very informative and insightful video.

[ecleveland]

If the Chinese military leaders learned from Russian leaders then yes, they could be made from cardboard and filled with water.

[callenclarke]

Great content as always, Alex. Well done.

In regards to the PLARF, I think we should remember Sun Tzu's aphorism:

"War is Deception."

[jed-henrywitkowski]

Fighting corruption in China means Pooh is getting rid of potential rivals or folks who weren't fully yesmen.

[conrmckocoa]

I appreciate how you effectively broke down the sourcing in this matter