The main newspaper of the People's Liberation Army instructed soldiers on Friday to ignore rumours about a split in the government and remain loyal to Hu Jintao, the Chinese president.
The main newspaper of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) instructed soldiers on Friday to ignore rumours about a split in the government and remain loyal to Hu Jintao, the Chinese president.
The Liberation Army Daily warned troops to "resolutely resist the incursion of all kinds of erroneous ideas, not be disturbed by noise, not be affected by rumours and not be drawn by undercurrents, and ensure that at all times and under all circumstances the military absolutely obeys the command of the party central leadership, the Central Military Commission and Chairman Hu."
The warning came weeks after one of China's most powerful politicians, Bo Xilai, was dismissed, leading to rumours of a split among the Communist Party's top leaders. Nothing has been heard of Bo since March 15.
Bo had a large support base within the PLA, raising the possibility that the army may act to preserve its ally. The authorities countered rumours of a possible coup by arresting six people for tweeting the possibility and closing 16 websites. Yesterday, a forum for Bo's supporters, Utopia, was closed for a month for "maliciously attacking national leaders and making wild comments".
The PLA has been shaken by a separate corruption scandal in the run-up to the party leadership change, Chen Ziming, an independent scholar of politics in Beijing, said. "I think both incidents generated tensions and uncertainty and, in the military, the case of Gu Junshan is a source of tensions." The downfall of the PLA Lieutenant General Gu for apparent corruption emerged this year.
The Liberation Army Daily and People's Daily have issued a series of editorials in recent days emphasising the need for loyalty to Hu and stability.
Last week the Liberation Army Daily alluded to an ideological struggle before the once-in-a-decade announcement of new leaders in the autumn.
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