Xi takes self-criticism campaign to military top brass

Chinese President Xi Jinping has carried his self-criticism campaign to the top military brass asking them to examine their own conduct and make critical evaluation of themselves in front of their colleagues.
Presiding over the meeting of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the supreme body which controls the 2.3 million People's Liberation Army (PLA), Xi briefed them about 'eight-point' regulation that the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) leadership began promoting in December in order to ban extravagance and formalism.
Senior military officers also examined their own conduct to verify whether they have complied with efforts to eliminate bureaucratism and formalism, as well as discussed ways to improve their work styles, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.

President Xi, who is also general secretary of the CPC, and other CMC members conducted in-depth discussions and offered good proposals, according to a statement issued after the meeting.
Termed as a campaign that smacked of era of Mao Zedong, Xi has launched his campaign in the party asking the leaders of the 25-member Politburo to self-criticise themselves to improve the work styles.
In another development The PLA Daily, the flagship newspaper of China's armed forces, called on troops to fear no sacrifice in peaceful times, apparently referring to Xi's austerity campaign banning lavish dinners and alcohol.

Reports say that the campaign has not gone down well within the ranks.

The spirit of fighting must be stressed in the army and soldiers should always maintain great revolutionary enthusiasm and high morale in peaceful times, the article said adding that without courage and uprightness troops are doomed to defeat in battle.
"Some believe that in the age of information war, the mighty aircraft and missiles will crush even the most extraordinary fighting spirit," it said.
The fighting capacity has its roots in courage and uprightness which are embodied in the readiness to embrace challenge and sacrifice, it said.