China’s Military Allegedly Faces Pay Cuts Amid Economic Slowdown: Sources

China's People's Liberation Army soldiers march next to the entrance to the Forbidden City in Beijing on May 22, 2020. Nicolas Asfouri/AFP via Getty Images

China’s economy has remained sluggish despite the authorities lifting pandemic measures, resulting in widespread salary cuts for civil servants nationwide since the second half of 2021. Now, the military faces salary cuts, according to multiple sources who spoke to the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times.

Most interviewees used pseudonyms due to fear of possible reprisals from authorities.

Military Pay Cuts

“No funds are going to civil servants’ salaries and retirement pensions; it’s either delayed or not being credited on time,” said Mr. Hua, a businessman who retired from the Chinese military.

In January 2022, as part of a cost-cutting initiative, Beijing ordered local governments to scale back on various perks and bonuses, and some public employees saw a decrease of up to one-third in their monthly paychecks. In July of the same year, for example, some civil servants in Shanghai did not receive quarterly bonuses.

“Many of my comrades who are still in the military are facing a suspension of various subsidies. It’s been about half a year since they last received any of those allowances.”

As part of a campaign to crack down on corruption in the military, Chinese leader Xi Jinping instructed in 2015 that officers’ income should contain “only wages” and “no other questionable sources of income.”

The monthly salary of a second lieutenant platoon leader in the army was reportedly 3,000 yuan (about $421) in 2014.

A round of salary adjustments took place in 2018, and the monthly salary of a lieutenant was between 4,500 yuan and 4,800 yuan (about $632 to $674), Chinese media reported in 2022.

There have been no salary adjustments for the military for the past five years, according to various China media outlets.

Mr. Hua clarified that military salaries come directly from the national budget. The subsidies, however, originate from local governments and have been discontinued.

“The local financial constraints have delayed payments for many public servants in various regions. Teachers, for example, are experiencing delays in salary disbursement, with some not receiving payment for over a month or even several months,” he said.

Wang Juntao, a Chinese dissident who participated in the 1989 pro-democracy student-led protests in Tiananmen Square, explained that several military subsidies are essentially welfare and funded by local governments.

“However, the availability of certain subsidies, like the pollution compensation fund for those working in the nuclear industry, may differ from region to region,” he said.

Mr. Cai, a veteran who served in the military for over 10 years, said his salary was relatively low in 2015–2016, hovering around 6,000 yuan [about $846] per month. “Subsidies make up less than one-third of the total salary,” he added.

He pointed out that subsidies varied based on the soldiers’ stationed locations. “Soldiers stationed in Tibet may receive higher compensation, and those in Fujian Province receive additional allowances, taking into account factors such as high temperatures in the summer.”

Ms. Bai, a retired soldier living abroad, claimed that the police force is also undergoing salary reductions. She recounted, “A deputy director of a police station of a coastal city mentioned that the salaries have been reduced—everyone is facing pay cuts.”

Ms. Bai noted: “Performance-based pay is tied to your specific duties, like cracking down on illegal gambling or addressing issues related to prostitution. The performance component is essentially a part of their overall salary, and their base salaries are quite modest.”

She emphasized that “all industries are undergoing major contractions, and salary cuts have become widespread in China. The police force is integral to the Chinese Communist Party’s stability maintenance efforts. Whenever there’s a salary reduction for the police, it inevitably leads to a salary cut in the military.”

Military ‘Lying Flat’

Salary cuts in the military and police would indicate financial stress on the regime and subsequent loss of incentives as motivational tools, which could potentially result in the security forces adopting a “lying flat” stance, akin to the local bureaucratic system, according to Mr. Wang.

He said that despite the perception that Xi has strengthened his power since securing an unprecedented third term in the 20th Party Congress, he is “not as formidable as some think.”

“The entire officialdom is adopting a ‘lying flat’ stance, and Xi Jinping’s bureaucratic team is experiencing a lack of new, capable members. Currently, Xi is at his weakest state,” Mr. Wang added.

“Lying flat” refers to a recent social trend in China, predominantly among the youth, in which people take a break from hard work and opt for a passive lifestyle while fulfilling basic needs. For example, they oppose the “996,” which is shorthand for working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week.

“Lying flat seems to be the biggest internal threat to the CCP these days,” according to Anders Corr, publisher of the Journal of Political Risk and contributor to The Epoch Times.

“Tangping [lying flat] is a good way to resist the CCP in a society where any other type of resistance is difficult. Every yuan that tangpingers don’t earn is a yuan that the regime can’t tax. The less money the regime has, the less it can spend on the military,” Mr. Corr wrote in an op-ed.

Song Tang and Yi Ru contributed to this report.