Probe of Armed Police Force set

The Central Military Commission will send an anti-graft inspection team to the China Armed Police Force as part of the nationwide effort to crack down on corruption.

The team will investigate the Party committee of the Armed Police Force and look into individual members of the committee from February to April.

The force has a dual leadership structure of the Central Military Commission and the State Council through the Ministry of Public Security. The force is not part of the People's Liberation Army.

With an estimated 660,000 members, the force is responsible for domestic security, including providing security service to the top leadership and government organizations.

The Central Military Commission set up post boxes and hotlines on Friday for whistleblowers to give tips on corruption cases, undesirable working practices and other misconduct.

The commission said it will pay special attention to the areas of personnel management, project construction, real estate management, construction and allocation of economical housing projects, and the purchase of equipment.

It said that misconduct after the cleanup campaign of late 2012 will be scrutinized.

President Xi Jinping, who also serves as chairman of the Central Military Commission, has vowed to eradicate corruption in China's 2.3-million-strong armed forces.

The past year has seen a major cleanup of the armed forces amid the nationwide anti-corruption campaign, which Xi described last week as "a matter of life or death for the Party and nation".

The commission has recently completed anti-graft investigations of seven military regions and listed 16 top military officers with illegal conduct last year.

Xu Caihou, the former vice-chairman of the commission, was brought down last March. He is the most senior military officer being charged in more than 30 years.

As one of the most powerful officials in the People's Liberation Army, Xu was allegedly to have taken advantage of his position to assist the promotion of others, accepting huge bribes both personally and through his family, and to have sought profit for others in exchange for bribes.

The mechanism of inspections on military departments began in May 2010 and concluded pilot investigations of five units on sensitive issues in February 2013.

The inspection mechanism initiative was finalized and approved by Xi in September 2013.

zhang_yi@chinadaily.com.cn