Purge of top Chinese general throws military into turmoil and raises questions about Taiwan
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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8d0l0g8yz5o
Big news in north Asia.
The senior ranks of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) are in tatters.
The weekend purging of China's top general, Zhang Youxia, and another senior military officer, Gen Liu Zhenli, has left serious questions about what triggered the elite power struggles unfolding in the country - and what this means for China's warfighting capacity, whether it be any ambition to take Taiwan by force or engage in another major regional conflict.
Zhang, 75, was vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) - the Communist Party group headed by the country's leader Xi Jinping, which controls the armed forces.
(Zhang was basically the #2 man in mainland China)
Among other things, concern in Taiwan is that now, even more than before, there will be nobody to provide President Xi with an honest judgement or assessment.
President Xi, "Is the army capable of invading Taiwan this year?"
New general "of course we are!!!!"
Zhang is actually older than Xi (by just a couple of years) and is a second level revolutionary (his father was in the original revolutionary war), so holds/held some "authority" with President Xi. Probably he was corrupt as charged (most of the leaders there are), but it obviously was something more that got him on the bad side of Xi. Xi will overlook corruption if it suits him.
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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8d0l0g8yz5o
Big news in north Asia.
The senior ranks of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) are in tatters.
The weekend purging of China's top general, Zhang Youxia, and another senior military officer, Gen Liu Zhenli, has left serious questions about what triggered the elite power struggles unfolding in the country - and what this means for China's warfighting capacity, whether it be any ambition to take Taiwan by force or engage in another major regional conflict.
Zhang, 75, was vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) - the Communist Party group headed by the country's leader Xi Jinping, which controls the armed forces.
(Zhang was basically the #2 man in mainland China)
Among other things, concern in Taiwan is that now, even more than before, there will be nobody to provide President Xi with an honest judgement or assessment.
President Xi, "Is the army capable of invading Taiwan this year?"
New general "of course we are!!!!"
Zhang is actually older than Xi (by just a couple of years) and is a second level revolutionary (his father was in the original revolutionary war), so holds/held some "authority" with President Xi. Probably he was corrupt as charged (most of the leaders there are), but it obviously was something more that got him on the bad side of Xi. Xi will overlook corruption if it suits him.
Among other things, concern in Taiwan is that now, even more than before, there will be nobody to provide President Xi with an honest judgement or assessment.
President Xi, "Is the army capable of invading Taiwan this year?"
New general "of course we are!!!!"
Seems that there’s a fair number of cases of that going around the past few years. Not limited to authoritarian states either.
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Supposedly, Gen. Zhang was leaking Chinese nuclear secrets to the US.
(At least that is the rumor going around right now.)
Kind of find it hard to believe, and the true story will probably never been known.
