According to a set of “professional ethics” released on Friday, the Central Military Commission’s (CMC) Equipment Development Department should foster “professional values in the new era”, with quality the top priority in equipment procurement.

The department should serve the People’s Liberation Army with “integrity and clean practice”, the official PLA Daily quoted the CMC as saying, without giving details about the equipment department ethics.

The new rules dictate that procurement should be based on battle needs, and that troops should receive weapons and equipment that are combat-oriented, high quality and offer advanced performance.

They also called for greater scrutiny of pricing, saying there had to be “honest quotations, law-based price reviews, strict appraisals and regulated use of pricing”. The quality and performance of weapons and equipment development had to be ensured, according to the report.

In a separate commentary on Friday, the PLA Daily said such a code of ethics would guide the equipment field to “foster integrity, observe public morality and strictly uphold personal morality”.

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