The armed forces of the United States and Taiwan can breathe a sigh of relief, for the People's Liberation Army has been defeated thanks to a lack of yellow sticky notes. The SCMP reports:

In rare criticism, the People's Liberation Army Daily has criticised the armed forces taking part in a major live-fire exercise for their lack of efficiency and failure to master the skills needed to wage information warfare. The criticism followed poor results from the recent Hanhai Storm exercises on the Kerqin grassland in Tongliao city , Inner Mongolia , according to the paper.

Three divisions, comprising about 50,000 troops, from the Shenyang military region took part in the four-stage exercises, in which the troops representing the PLA were defeated by the enemy Blue Army - believed to have simulated US battle techniques.

In the first stage, the Red Army was ordered to repel the attacking Blue Army. Despite its firepower being strengthened by the availability of six hi-tech aircraft, the Red Army troops were defeated because the army commander forgot to call in air support. The other three stages revealed the PLA officers were slow to respond and did not have a firm grasp of the advanced technologies needed to stage information warfare.

Antony Wong, president of the International Military Association in Macau, thought the exercises simulated a "ground battle" on the Korean Peninsula, with the Blue Army representing the US.

The People's Liberation Army will audit the finances of more than 4,000 senior officers - including at least 100 generals - over the next five years, as part of its efforts to curb the misappropriation of funds and corruption...The audits were "aimed at improving the military's preparedness, strengthening senior officers' administrative abilities according to law, and [maximising] the military budget", Xinhua said.