China's military at 'high risk' on corruption: Transparency International

TAIPEI (AFP) - China's armed forces are battling a major corruption problem, with little political oversight and no whistleblower mechanism to counter graft, watchdog Transparency International said on Tuesday.

China, which has the world's largest active military, scored as a "high-risk" country on a new global index on defence establishment corruption launched by the Berlin-based organisation at a press conference in Taiwan.

"The Chinese military acknowledges that there is a major corruption issue through its various promulgations, and it has put a variety of measures in place to limit this major concern," said Mr Mark Pyman, director of the organisation's Defence and Security Programme.

However, he said a lack of transparency means it is uncertain how effective these measures are, as the military does not allow the level of scrutiny required to ensure an anti-graft campaign is succeeding.