My Strategist post on Monday has stimulated considerable interest from readers in respect of the claimed People’s Liberation Army (PLA) connections with Landbridge. To provide further information and allow people to make their own assessments of the connections, I present below an English translation of a page from the Landbridge Group’s Chinese-language website:

The Formal Establishment of the Landbridge Group’s Armed Militia

On the morning of 8 August 2014, a meeting to formally establish the Armed Militia of the Landbridge Group was solemnly convened in the Landbridge Group’s Meeting Room 101.

Gao Yong, the political commissar of the Rizhao Military Sub-District; and Wang Hao, the chief of staff of the same military sub-district; Gai Weixing, the CPC party secretary of the Lanshan District; Wang Jijun the deputy head of the Lanshan district; Liu Yusong, the political commissar of the Lanshan District People’s Armed Militia; Zhang Fengrun, the commander of the militia; Ye Cheng, the chairman of the Landbridge Group; and He Zhaoqing, the party secretary of the Landbridge Group’s CPC Committee all attended this meeting.

In addition, related service personnel from the Rizhao Military Sub-District and the Lanshan District People’s Armed Militia, personnel from the Landbridge Group Armed Militia, personnel from the people’s militia emergency response squad and some staff members from the Landbridge Group also participated in the meeting.

The meeting was chaired by Colonel Liu Yusong, political commissar of the Lanshan District People’s Armed Militia. During the meeting Colonel Zhang Fengrun, commander of the Lanshan District’s People’s Armed Militia publicly read the “Official Reply on the Establishment of an Armed Militia in the Landbridge Corporation” and “Orders on the Appointment of He Zhaoqing and Others”. Gao Yong, the political commissar of the Rizhao Military Sub-District; and Gai Weixing, the CPC party secretary of the Lanshan District unveiled the signboard for the Landbridge Group’s Armed Militia.

After the meeting, the Landbridge Group’s chairman Ye Cheng and the Group’s party secretary He Zhaoqing accompanied Gao Yong, the political commissar of the Rizhao Military Sub-District; Wang Hao, the chief of staff of the same military sub-district, Gai Weixing, the CPC party secretary of the Lanshan District, Wang Jijun the deputy head of the Lanshan district and other leaders on a tour of the Group’s facilities.

The Landbridge Group, as a large-scale civilian enterprise has, through 20 years of unstinting effort, established its four major commercial planks of petrochemicals, port logistics, real estate and tourism and international trade. Its assets total close to 17 billion yuan renminbi. Throughout, the Landbridge Group has firmly upheld the ideal of “A strong enterprise does not forget to repay the country, while a prosperous enterprise does not forget national defence.” It has actively supported the army through culture and supported the army through science and technology. It has resolved difficulties and served as a logistic backup for military units engaged in maritime training, and for the military units based in Rizhao. The Landbridge Group has been assigned the appellation of a double model for “Loving Lanshan and Putting Efforts into Strengthening the Military”. In 2013, the Landbridge Group chairman Comrade Ye Cheng was cited by the Provincial CPC Committee and the Provincial Government as one of the 10 outstanding individuals of Shandong province who have concerned themselves with national defence construction.

The establishment of the Landbridge Group’s Armed Militia manifests the true melding of a strong enterprise and an active armed militia under the Landbridge Group. It also injects new blood into the national defence project of Rizhao City and Lanshan District.