Copyright scmp
A senior Chinese general has called for the military to be prepared to “live a tight life” and cut costs on multiple fronts in an elaboration of the 15th five-year plan. The remarks by Qiu Yang, deputy director of the General Office of the Central Military Commission, were made in an article published last week and included in a supplementary reader for the Communist Party’s policy recommendations on the five-year plan covering 2026-2030. The recommendations were issued following the closing of the fourth plenum of the party’s Central Committee last month. The reader is a collection of articles by senior officials to elaborate on the policy recommendations issued by the party. In the article, Qiu, whose office is responsible for helping President Xi Jinping manage various military units, called for a higher-quality, more efficient, and sustainable development model for military modernisation. The article said the military should improve its military procurement system and reduce the costs of training, management and equipment support. It also called on the military to be prepared to “live a tight life”. The article stated that efficient development and innovation were key measures to gain the strategic advantage in international military competition. “Whoever can maximise the integration of comprehensive strength and innovation capabilities … and promote innovation and the transformation of results at the fastest speed and lowest cost will gain the initiative,” the article said. The phrase “live a tight life” has appeared in government documents for years, including annual government work reports, as a key slogan for China’s austerity push. But this phrase has rarely been used in China’s official statements regarding its military development. The PLA’s intensive review of military equipment procurement began with a series of corruption investigations after the downfall of then defence minister Li Shangfu in 2023. Li, who worked for decades in the military’s equipment department, was criticised by Beijing for “seriously polluting the political environment of the military equipment sector”. The rocket force and the equipment procurement department have some of the worst hit divisions targeted in the military anti-corruption drive, with several investigations into senior People’s Liberation Army officials and defence industry figures. In July 2023, the equipment development department of the Central Military Commission – China’s top military leadership body chaired by Xi – called on the public to report violations in the bidding and review process. China’s rocket force terminated nearly 200 partnerships with experts and suppliers in August and September. Qiu also argued for more scrutiny of the military budget and military assets. “[We must] promote military budget management...strengthen supervision of military asset management, improve the accuracy and cost-effectiveness of resource allocation and use, and ensure limited resources are used effectively,” he wrote. Similar statements also appeared in an article in the reader by Zhang Youxia, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission and the highest-ranking general in the PLA. In 2025, China’s defence budget reached 1.81 trillion yuan (US$250 billion), ranking second in the world, with an annual growth rate of 7.2 per cent over the past three years, while the economic growth target has remained around 5 per cent during the same period. Qiu’s article also stated that military development often involved multiple local entities, and coordination and supervision between military and local industry should be strengthened. “Many key military industries are in areas where the military and local governments intersect. Integrated military-local government supervision and joint auditing should be improved,” it said. Innovative methods and approaches, including artificial intelligence (AI), are needed to improve military governance, according to Qiu. “[We must] seize the strategic opportunity of the rapid development of AI and its applications, accelerate the development of service platforms, model algorithms and other technologies, and explore areas such as decision support and system operation simulation,” the article stated. The PLA has in recent months offered multiple examples of AI use for defence, including for training models and increasing warships’ stealth capacity. But it has also cautioned many times that AI cannot replace the decision-making power of humans on the battlefield.
