China's military furthers 'mass line' campaign

Senior Chinese military officials on Thursday called on the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to carry out the "mass line" campaign to build a strong military. During a PLA conference on the second phase of the campaign, Fan Changlong, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), urged efforts to ensure the campaign reaches every corner of the military and thorough implementation of requirements to root out bad workstyles. The year-long "mass line" education campaign, which entered its second phase in January, was launched in June 2013 to boost ties between the Communist Party of China (CPC) members and the public through a "thorough cleanup" of undesirable work styles -- formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance. The second phase campaign should target Party committees at the division or brigade level and serious problems concerning unjust use of personnel, lavish feasting, bribery, fraud, and failure to adhere to the system of democratic centralism, Fan said. The military should always follow the CPC's instructions, serve the people, and keep in mind its main function of fighting battles, he added. Xu Qiliang, who is also CMC vice chairman, urged army commanders at the same conference to reexamine themselves in the light of problems exposed during the second phase of the campaign and thoroughly solve untackled problems exposed in the first phase. "Mass line" refers to a guideline under which the Communist Party of China (CPC) is required to prioritize the interests of the people and exercise power on their behalf.