Chinese Military Promotes Political Rectification to Align Performance Goals

The People's Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police have conducted an extensive campaign to enforce what official media term a 'correct view of performance' across all echelons, according to state media reports. The initiative integrates ideological rectification and political discipline with evaluations of commanders and party cadres. Military authorities emphasized that performance metrics must center on actual combat readiness, strict adherence to the Central Military Commission Chairman Responsibility System, and the eradication of superficial work styles, aligning leadership assessments with defense modernization goals.

This focused ideological and evaluation campaign directly shapes the promotion criteria, duty standards, and operational readiness priorities for both senior commanders and grassroots officers across China's armed forces. By tying cadre evaluations explicitly to political loyalty and tangible warfighting capabilities rather than superficial metrics, the effort serves as a dual test of military allegiance to party leadership and the institutional modernization of defense capabilities.

China's armed forces have carried out a military-wide educational campaign focused on establishing what official military and state media describe as a 'correct view of performance,' aiming to align command evaluations with high-quality national defense and military modernization. According to joint reporting by Xinhua and the PLA Daily published across state and military outlets, the campaign encompassed the Central Military Commission Joint Operations Command Center, theater commands, service branches, CMC departments and directly affiliated institutions, as well as the People's Armed Police. The initiative sought to address foundational ideological questions regarding official conduct, party discipline, and the standards by which military leadership and administrative achievements are measured. Military leadership tied the campaign directly to ongoing efforts in ideological rectification and political training, organizing cadres around a combined process of theoretical study, problem inspection, and practical correction. Official statements stressed the need to eradicate bureaucratic formalism and focus institutional effort on practical results, defining performance by adherence to the CMC Chairman Responsibility System and measurable progress in war preparation and combat readiness. Training materials assigned across military ranks included designated compilations of Xi Jinping's discourses on performance standards, military strengthening, and party building. Units such as an Army brigade and a Navy base reportedly incorporated these texts into Party committee study groups and officer rotation courses, focusing on rectifying disconnects between administrative reporting and real-world military requirements. State media accounts stated that the campaign achieved its intended objectives by strengthening ideological alignment with the Party Central Committee, clarifying accountability for party management, and reinforcing commanders' obligations toward realistic combat preparation. The campaign positions political loyalty and practical warfighting capacity as the central criteria governing the development and appraisal of China's military leadership.