Man Sleeps with Chinese Soldier’s Wife, Gets 10 Month Prison Sentence for ‘Destroying Military Marriage’

A man was sentenced to 10 months in prison for destroying a “military marriage” as he dated and cohabited with the wife of a serving People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldier, Hong Kong-based the South China Morning Post said in a report. The Chinese criminal laws says that anyone cohabiting or marrying another person despite knowing that he or she is the spouse of a PLA soldier can face imprisonment of up to three years.

The Chinese defence law mandates such a harsh punishment because the state is obliged not only to give special protection to the marriage of a soldier but also respect and protect the honour of those serving in the armed forces.

The Chinese People’s Court Daily said the man surnamed Ma was handed a 10-month jail sentence by a court in Dunhua. Dunhua is located in the northeastern province of Jilin. He was convicted of destroying a military marriage.

The man, Ma, met a woman identified only by her last name, Yuan. Both of them were former colleagues and the pair had sex on the same day. Yuan apparently told Ma that she was married and her husband was in the PLA which he did not take seriously at first. He went and told others that Yuan was his girlfriend. Sometime later when Yuan told Ma that it is a crime to have sex with her because she is married to a PLA soldier, she decided to end the romantic relationship.

A month later they started dating again because Ma said he was missing Yuan and both of them started living together at the former’s home. Meanwhile, Yuan asked her husband for a divorce, which raised his suspicion that she was having an affair. He was stationed in a separate city on PLA duties.

The soldier named Li then checked surveillance cameras in their residential community when he returned home for a holiday. He witnessed the incidents and then called the police. Ma got a lenient sentence because he admitted to committing the crime.

Weakened Mindset

The People’s Court Daily in an editorial said having an extra-marital affair with spouses of PLA soldiers is an immoral act. “With their marriage jeopardized, soldiers’ mindset will be affected and the army’s fighting capacity will be weakened. As a result, it is vital to protect the stability of a military marriage. Any activity which leads to breaking a military marriage should be punished seriously,” the editorial said.