U.S. News & World Report writes that “China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army, is currently engulfed in the worst corruption scandal in its history. Two of its top officials have been detained and accused of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power, including a cash-for-promotion racket that benefited hundreds of officers. More heads will roll as dozens of senior personnel must have offered bribes — or had been bribed — to get ahead in the ranks, calling into question the very leadership of the 2.3 million-strong army.”  

“It’s easy to look across the Pacific and feel a twinge of schadenfreude. But if Beijing can’t get this metastasizing scandal under control, it’s bad for America’s strategic interests for three basic reasons.”

• “First, corruption within the Chinese army makes our interactions with China even more byzantine and unpredictable than they already are.”
• “Second, a corrupted Chinese military might not be competent enough to handle a full-blown international crisis in Asia.”
• “Third, even if a shooting war isn’t on the horizon, the U.S. still needs to work with a competent Chinese military to handle important international challenges.”