China to host foreign military delegation
Foreign military attaches will visit a Chinese aviation brigade today.
The 81st Group Army aviation brigade of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will host the delegation of attaches for a demonstration of Chinese aviation capabilities.
China has been under global scrutiny for a lack of military transparency, and has faced prior criticism for exaggerating the capabilities of its weaponry. This visit of foreign attaches serving throughout China to an aviation brigade has happened several times over the last few decades as a Chinese effort to boost transparency.
Attaches are often invited to watch an airshow and are later brought onto the tarmac to investigate the aircraft themselves in a Chinese effort to prove their capability.
This particular visit holds special relevance for the PLA, as China is still dealing with ripple effects of Xi’s purge of the army after a US intelligence report revealed that many Chinese missiles were secretly filled with water, not fuel. In the short term, the visit may boost local confidence in Chinese military capabilities, as this is a highly rehearsed event that has gone successfully in the past. In the longer term, the event speaks to a widespread issue of corruption and deceit in Xi’s PLA, who will ramp up these military displays and exercises, in an attempt to re-establish credibility.
