Corruption in China's Army, substandard Dongfeng military vehicle led to death of its soldiers at Galwan Valley

Nearly two months after the standoff at the Galwan Valley along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, allegations of corruption within the Chinese Army and questions on the substandard Dongfeng military vehicle are emerging that point towards the death of Chinese soldiers at the Galwan Valley.

In the DNA show, Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary analyses and connects the dots between the corruption within the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and how it affected China's soldiers at Galwan Valley. At first, we have to understand what is the basis of these allegations of corruption on the Chinese Army.

On June 15 night, 20 Indian soldiers were martyred and 40-50 Chinese soldiers were also killed. However, China has been hiding the truth from the world as to the exact number of Chinese soldiers killed in the Galwan Valley. If anyone in China talks about it, then China takes strict action against that person. A person named Zhou Liying posted the real reason on social media for the loss of the Chinese Army at Galwan Valley and as soon as he made these posts, the police accused him of spreading rumours and arrested him later.

In his social media post, he wrote that the military vehicles supplied by a company named Dongfeng to the Chinese Army were of poor quality and due to this corruption of the company, the Chinese soldiers died in the confrontation between China and India at the LAC. Later, 500 such vehicles of this company were returned by the Chinese Army.

After his posts, the company supplying these vehicles to the Chinese army complained against him and he was arrested last week. The Chinese police also made him write an apology after arresting him. This news has been published on the website named chinamail.com, and it is said that it is operated by the PLA. In the letter of apology, it was said that the person concocted the news in an inebriated state and so he apologised.

Now China suppressed the voice of one of its citizens, punished him and forced him to write an apology. But it also exposes the Chinese government's fears and lies over the Galwan Valley incident. This clearly shows that even if China doesn't reveal its losses in the Galwan Valley the people have come to know about the skirmish of Galwan Valley.

A video recently went viral, when tensions between India and China were high at the border, where Indian soldiers were seen hitting the windows, smashing a Chinese Dongfeng named Humvee. However, at that time the Indian Army had made it clear that this video has nothing to do with the ongoing dispute over LAC. But the low quality of army vehicles made in China is clearly visible in the video. Now the discussion in China itself is that such vehicles could not save Chinese soldiers in Galwan and corruption is being cited as the reason behind it.

Some reports published in Chinese media claim that Dongfeng, the manufacturer of these vehicles, has betrayed the Chinese army. This is a serious question for a country like China that claims to stop corruption and now it is being alleged that corruption in defence deals is the reason behind it.

A news report published in one such website states that an officer of Dongfeng company is under investigation for financial disturbances. However, it does not mention the India-China dispute. The news of the ongoing corruption investigation against two executives of Dongfeng company has also been published on a website called Sohu. It also does not mention the border dispute between India and China but both these reports were published in June.

A website, Apply Daily, in China had ruled a connection between the allegations against Dongfeng and the ongoing controversy at LAC as it wrote that poor quality steel was used in the manufacture of these vehicles. The newspaper gets published in Hong Kong after this report the owner has been arrested in Hong Kong on charges of sedition.

China's Dongfeng HUMVEE itself is the biggest example of this. This vehicle is a copy of Hummer used in the US Army, Hummer has now also come civil versions and there is a lot of demand in US and European countries, but China does not consider it a copy and says that it's a product made in China. This is because the Dongfeng MOTOR GROUP, which manufactures Humvee in China, is owned by the Chinese government itself. China is also said to have a license for Hummer's remake. But Dongfeng Motor has not been charged with corruption for the first time. In 2015, there was a corruption investigation against an officer of this company.

When Chinese President Xi Jinping came to power, he promised China to end corruption. He sacked more than one million employees and officials in China. This did not end corruption in China as Xi Jinping seated his people in the positions from which the old officers were dismissed, and with this, he strengthened his hold in power.