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Xinhua News Agency, the official media of the Chinese Communist Party, reported on December 31 that Xi Jinping had issued a New Year’s message for 2024. Xi Jinping said next year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and “the reunification of the motherland” is a historic necessity.
Reuters reported that Xi’s stance was tougher than last year. Xi last year described the two sides of the Taiwan Strait as “members of the same family” and hoped to “together promote the long-term peace and stability of the Chinese nation.”
Just as Xi’s stance toward Taiwan has hardened, the countdown to Taiwan’s general election has begun and the CCP is conducting a large-scale purge of the military.
According to an announcement by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the Communist Party of China on December 29, three generals, four lieutenant generals and two major generals, a total of nine senior generals, joined the Communist Party of China and were dismissed from their positions as representatives of the National People’s Congress of the Communist Party of China .
The news immediately attracted widespread attention around the world. Wang Youqun, an expert on China issues, wrote in an article that the CCP’s purge of the military is “directly linked to the power struggle at the highest levels of the CCP, the security of the regime, the direction of the political situation, and even… “Life safety of Party leader Xi Jinping and his family.”
Wang Youqun believes that the removal of the above nine senior CCP generals from the National People’s Congress shows that there are many people in the CCP military who are against Xi. Therefore, Xi’s purge of the Rocket Force is only the beginning of the purge of the “Xi Family Army” and will continue to be purged in the future. In the end, Xi will likely betray his relatives and reap the consequences.
Xi’s purge of senior military generals will expand
Reuters reported on December 30 that analysts said Xi’s sweeping purge of military generals could take longer, slowing the CCP’s military modernization amid geopolitical tensions.
Among the nine senior military generals expelled by the Chinese Communist Party’s National People’s Congress on Friday, three are former missile force chiefs, one is a former Air Force commander, one is a Marine general in charge of the South China Sea, and four relate focuses on the procurement of military equipment as well as research and development.
Among them are three generals, namely Ding Laihang, the former commander of the Chinese Communist Party’s Air Force, and Zhou Yaning and Li Yuchao, two former commanders of the Communist Party of China’s Missile Force.
There are also 4 lieutenant generals. Lieutenant General Zhang Zhenzhong was formerly deputy chief of staff of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China and deputy commander of the Missile Force of the Communist Party of China. Lieutenant General Ju manned space program. Lieutenant General Zhang Yulin is a former deputy minister of the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China (retired in 2018) and a former president of the University of Defense Technology of the Communist Party of China. Lieutenant General Li Chuanguang is the deputy commander of the Chinese Communist Party’s Missile Force.
Also disqualified were Rao Wenmin, currently deputy director of the equipment development department of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, and Major General Lu Hong, director of the equipment department of the Communist Party of China Missile Force.
Reuters reported that this personnel change at the top of the Chinese Communist Party’s military represents a major setback for Xi Jinping. Over the years, Xi has spared no expense in purchasing and developing high-quality weapons and equipment. He wants to fully modernize the communist army and become a “world-class” army by 2050. To achieve this goal, Beijing’s defense budget has grown faster than its economy for many years.
Xi Jinping hopes to build a “world-class” military by 2050 and has invested billions of dollars buying and researching equipment to modernize it. The growth rate of Beijing’s defense budget has exceeded the economic growth rate for many years.
However, the recent downfall of a number of Chinese generals and military equipment suppliers has broken that halo and raised questions about whether these large-scale military investments are being effectively monitored, especially as China cooperates with the United States in areas such as Taiwan and the South China Sea. competing in key areas.
Since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, he has launched a massive anti-corruption campaign within the Communist Party and government, with the military as one of the main targets.
Andrew Scobell, senior researcher at the Institute of Peace, an American think tank, believes that “it is a clear sign that they have been purged.”
Wu Muluan, associate professor and associate dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, said: “More people will resign. The Rocket Force purge is not over yet.”
Former CCP Defense Minister Wei Fenghe, who once led the Rocket Force, has also disappeared. His successor, Lee Sang-bok, was suddenly dismissed from office without explanation in October after an absence of several months. On Friday, one of his deputies was removed from office by the National People’s Congress. , and Dong Jun, the former commander of the Chinese Communist Party’s Navy with experience in the South China Sea, was appointed Chinese Communist Party’s defense minister to replace Li Shangfu.
Expert: Xi Jinping will not risk war with other countries in the next five to ten years
Analysts believe that while corruption in the Chinese military has long been known, the intensity of the recent crackdown and the extent of the Chinese Missile Force’s involvement are shocking.
Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, a Washington-based think tank, said: “Strategic nuclear power is the bottom line for the Chinese Communist Party to maintain national security, and it is also the last resort against Taiwan.” .” “The Chinese Communist Party needs some time to clean up the mess and resume missile control.” Confidence in military capabilities and credibility. This means the CCP is currently in a weaker position.”
Sun described Xi Jinping’s campaign to cleanse the military of corruption as an arduous task that “can never be completed.”
Analysts believe the Chinese military’s long-standing corruption problem continues because some root causes, including low officer salaries and opaque military spending, have not been addressed.
Chen Daoyin, a former associate professor at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said the CCP’s ongoing purge could deter Xi Jinping from taking risks in serious conflicts with other countries in the next five to 10 years.
He said: “Before he realized how widespread the corruption was, he drank the ecstasy soup and thought that the army could really fight and win the war, as he expected it would in a war? Xi Jinping now knows that their stated loyalty to the party and the army is hollow. I think that will undermine his confidence a bit.”
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