2023-08-01 09:15:48
August 1, 2023 at 9:12 am
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China’s sudden announcement to replace two leaders of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force has fueled speculation that Beijing is purging the elite force that oversees China’s nuclear weapons.
The Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China (CCP) announced on Monday (July 31) that Wang Houbin and Xu Xisheng were promoted to generals, and announced that they would be the Rocket Force commander and political commissar respectively. This indirectly confirms that General Li Yuchao, the former commander of the Rocket Force, and General Xu Zhongbo, the political commissar, who had been “missing” for several months, have resigned.
Some analysts believe that this is the biggest unexpected reshuffle of the Chinese military leadership in the past ten years. Li Yuchao was promoted to the commander of the Rocket Army in January 2022 and served for only one and a half years; the newly promoted Wang Houbin and Xu Xisheng had never served in the Rocket Army. Wang Houbin, 62, is from the Navy, and Xu Xisheng, 59, is from the Air Force.
The People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force is the fourth branch of the Chinese Army, Navy, and Air Force, formerly known as the Second Artillery Force. In 2015, Xi Jinping changed it to the Rocket Force in a military overhaul.
According to Xinhua News Agency, the promotion ceremony of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China was held at the Bayi Building in Beijing. Xi Jinping signed the promotion order and personally issued the order to the two generals who were promoted.
Last week, Hong Kong’s “South China Morning Post” disclosed that Li Yuchao had been taken away by the military’s anti-corruption agency and was under investigation.
According to reports, Liu Guangbin and Zhang Zhenzhong were also taken away, current and former senior Rocket Army generals.
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Lyle Morris, a foreign policy and national security fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said: “The latest purge is very telling … China is making one of the most profound changes to its nuclear strategy in decades. “
“Xi has consolidated control of the PLA in unprecedented ways, but that doesn’t mean it’s done. Xi remains concerned about corruption in the military and is signaling that absolute loyalty to (the party) has yet to be realized.”
In addition, news of the death of Wu Guohua, the former deputy commander of the Rocket Force, has been circulating on Chinese social media for the past month. An obituary issued on July 25 and signed by “Comrade Wu Guohua Funeral Office” stated that Wu Guohua died in Beijing on July 4 at the age of 66.
The Paper, an official media outlet in Shanghai, China, confirmed the news on July 27, saying that it had learned from Wu Guohua’s relatives and friends that the lieutenant general died on July 4 “due to an invalid medical treatment”.
But the report was deleted hours later. Xinhua News Agency, which usually publishes the obituaries of important officials, has been silent. It’s not clear why.
Lyle Morris believes that Li Yuchao’s investigation, coupled with the recent dismissal of former foreign minister Qin Gang, is a major challenge for Xi Jinping’s leadership team.
Foreign Minister Qin Gang, seen as Xi Jinping’s most trusted foreign minister, was abruptly replaced last week by former foreign minister Wang Yi, seven months after taking office, for unknown reasons.
Last week, when Xi Jinping inspected the Air Force of the People’s Liberation Army’s Western Theater Command in Chengdu, he emphasized that the army must “continuously advance the fight against corruption.”
At the same time, official media also reported that the Equipment Development Department of the Military Commission is carrying out activities to investigate and rectify violations of regulations and disciplines by experts in the evaluation of equipment procurement tenders, collecting clues on the violations of regulations and disciplines by experts in equipment procurement tenders and assessments since October 2017.
In 2014, during a massive anti-corruption campaign against the Chinese military, former CMC vice-chairmen Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong were “sacked” and prosecuted for corruption.
Guo Boxiong was sentenced to life imprisonment by the military court, and Xu Caihou died before the trial.
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