People’s Liberation Army crippled by political flak

China’s military appears to be firing more top brass than bullets. A never-ending purge by President Xi Jinping has highlighted “trust” issues inside the beating heart of the People’s Liberation Army and the PLA high command.

In the past two years, the casualty count has been rising. Two defense ministers and a group of senior PLA officers have been sacked. Included in the cull were high-ranking generals of the Rocket Force, which controls China’s nuclear arsenal.

“For Xi, to lose one of his six most senior officers on suspicion of ‘serious violations of discipline’ is unfortunate. But to lose two generals – and possibly a third – on such grounds suggests something is seriously awry in the [PLA],” The Wire China reported this week.

“The 20th Central Military Commission, inaugurated less than three years ago, is headed by Xi. The other six generals who sit on it were his choices and, of these, two have been officially sacked, while a third hasn’t been seen in public since March 11,” it said in a newsletter.

Unfriendly fire:

• The “first wave” in the spring of 2024 saw the “expulsion” of former Defense Ministers General Wei Fenghe and General Li Shangfu from the Communist Party of China.
• They were kicked out for violating “political discipline,” The Interpreter, published by the Lowy Institute, a think thank based in Sydney, reported last month. 
• The “second wave” in November involved senior members of the Central Military Commission, or CMC, such as Admiral Miao Hua and Defense Minister Dong Jun. 

Delve deeper: Yet the biggest name caught up in the “anti-corruption campaign” was CMC Deputy Chairman General He Weidong, the country’s second-ranking officer. He reported directly to Xi and was “deeply involved in planning for a theoretical Taiwan invasion.”

Big Picture: Supreme Warlord Xi has ordered the PLA to be ready to take neighbor Taiwan by force, if necessary, by 2027. China’s Communist Party State regards the democratic island as a renegade province and has made unification its major priority.

Bottom lines: “But an ongoing purge by Xi casts doubt on whether he can trust his generals to wage war,” Phillip C Saunders and Joel Wuthnow at the National Defense University in Washington wrote in a commentary for The New York Times this month.

China Factor comment: General Secretary Xi has become more dictatorial since taking control of the Party in 2012. Even allies have been targeted in his catch-all anti-corruption drive. For the PLA, the fallout will “not just affect” morale.” It will also reveal combat flaws.