Chinese President Xi Jinping has reshuffled the leadership of the country’s missile forces in an apparent attempt to install trustworthy officials and disrupt corruption in the force, which would play a key role in any attempt to seize Taiwan.
The move earlier this week saw the Chinese leader effectively purge two of the most senior officials in the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Rocket Force, which oversees the country’s land-based missile and nuclear arsenals. Wang Houbin, the navy’s former deputy commander, takes over as the Rocket Force’s new commander, while Xu Xisheng, who previously served in the air force’s Southern Theater Command, becomes its new political commissar, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on Monday.
The appointment of a new commander for the unit ended weeks of speculation over the fate of Li Yuchao, the ousted commander of the missile force. Li, his deputy, Liu Guangbin, as well as his former No. 2, Zhang Zhenzhong, have been taken away for investigation by the Central Military Commission’s anti-graft body, the South China Morning Post reported last week, citing two anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
The CMC, the country’s highest national defense organization, is headed by Xi.
Li, 60, is the third commander of the Rocket Force since it was formally established in late 2015 under Xi’s overall military reforms, and was elected to the ruling Communist Party’s 205-member Central Committee in October.
“The replacement of the commander role in the Rocket Force comes as an indirect confirmation of the investigation launched against Li Yuchao,” said Li Nan, a visiting senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s East Asian Institute.
However, the whereabouts of two other senior officials — Liu and Zhang — remain unclear due to the lack of transparency within the Chinese military, he added. Beijing has not yet made any public announcements of such investigations against the officials and China’s Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comment by the time of the publication.
The apparent purge echoed last week’s replacement of Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who had disappeared from public view for a full month. The Chinese government has remained conspicuously silent on his whereabouts and political fate. Last week, his predecessor, Wang Yi, took over his post.
According to the South China Morning Post report, the probe of the Rocket Force officials started after Defense Minister Wei Fenghe retired in March. Wei was the force’s first commander.
Separately, the Chinese military launched an inquiry and sought clues from the public on graft cases during the military’s procurement process dating back to 2017. It did not elaborate on why the year specifically had been chosen.
Announcing the inquiry on social media last week, the PLA’s Equipment Development Department said the probe was focusing on experts who assessed the tender process, adding that such an inquiry was needed to “create a good environment for procurement bidding and evaluation" and to "rectify violations of rules and discipline.”
The unusual move could be linked to the recent purge of senior Rocket Force officials, the National University of Singapore’s Li said, adding that essential tasks for the unit not only consist of personnel training but also cover the weapon procurement process, an area where corruption has been known to occur.
In addition to nuclear-tipped missiles, the Rocket Force is also tasked with overseeing China’s conventional missile arsenal, which could be used to target military sites in Taiwan — as well as Japan — in the event of a conflict.
It has widely deployed missiles to target the self-ruled island and neutralize Taiwanese defensive installations, according to a recent report by Decker Eveleth, a researcher at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.
“In the case of China launching military operations against Taiwan, China might launch short-range ballistic missiles to eliminate Taiwan's defense assets, such as airfields, airports, navy ports or command control centers,” said Ding Shuh-fan, a professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei.
Li at the National University of Singapore said that the Rocket Force plays a crucial role in showcasing Beijing’s nuclear deterrence in the face of external security threats, while also preserving the country’s conventional war-fighting ability to precisely target enemy forces.
However, analysts described the fresh appointments as unusual and bold steps, since both Wang and Xu have no prior experience serving in the rocket unit, thus raising questions about their ability to effectively lead this particularly important branch of the PLA.
Some military observers have said that the removal of key members of the force might potentially impede efforts to strengthen its performance and capabilities, calling Xi’s move to appoint two generals from other PLA services a politically motivated decision made for the sake of his anti-corruption campaign.
Ding added that the appointments of Wang and Xu demonstrated the leader’s declining trust in other lower-ranked officials inside the Rocket Force, with fresh blood brought in from China’s navy and air force as an attempt at disrupting corruption networks that were formed under the previous leadership.
“Xi may continue to launch more so-called investigations into the Rocket Force,” Ding said. “That's why he needs to turn to someone from other services who does not have any kind of established interests with those working in the rocket unit.”
Xi has engaged in repeated public calls for the army’s political loyalty to the Communist Party, which places the Chinese president at its “core,” as well as greater anti-graft efforts in recent years.
“It should be ensured that the party has a firm grasp of the troops ideologically, politically and organizationally ... improving the army’s political judgment, political comprehension and political executive power,” Xi said during a visit to an air force facility late last month.
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