BEIJING, Dec. 8  -- A high-ranking officer of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on Monday urged the army to clean up its work styles.

Xu Qiliang, vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission (CMC), made the remarks at a symposium attended by military officials, calling for serious reflection on the discipline and legal violations by former senior leader Zhou Yongkang and former CMC Vice Chairman Xu Caihou.

Lessons learned from their cases demand profound reflection and the influence of the cases must be thoroughly cleared away, in accordance with President Xi Jinping's instructions.

Zhou, a former member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, was expelled from the CPC and put under judicial investigation for violations of Party discipline and suspected crimes.

Xu Caihou took "extremely large" bribes, and has confessed to his crimes.

Purifying the army is the foundation for a strong army, said Zhang Yang, a member of the CMC, at the symposium.