[Epoch Times July 06, 2021]The Chinese Communist Party media reported that on July 5, Xi Jinping was promoted to four generals and awarded titles. This was supposed to be a festive event for the CCP army. It should be arranged in a series of party celebration activities, but it was carried out in a low-key manner after the party celebration. The video of the party media showed that the promotion and award ceremonies were still taking place in a small conference room in the Bayi Building in Beijing. The scale of dozens of people was similar to that of last year. Xi Jinping still did not smile on his face; four were also replaced by the positions of promoted generals. Revealed the unusual meaning, it is difficult to say that Xi Jinping’s military power has been further consolidated, or there are deeper concerns.
The promotion to the rank of general includes: Southern Theater Commander Wang Xiubin, Western Theater Commander Xu Qiling, Army Commander Liu Zhenli, and Strategic Support Force Commander Ju Gansheng.
All four of them have just been promoted to chief officers at the military district or service level, and it is not surprising that they won the rank of general. Two of them replaced the former retired chief official; the strange thing is that the other two replaced the unretired chief official. The current destination of the replaced is unknown, and the reason for the removal is unclear. Whether it will become a new round of the CCP army Cleaning is still unknown.
The chief officer of the Western Theater has changed in half a year
The replacement of the chief officer in the Western Theater is the most intriguing. In December 2020, the former commander of the Western Theater Command Zhao Zongqi retired. Zhang Xudong was transferred to the command of the Western Theater Command. He only worked for six months. In June of this year, he was replaced by Xu Qiling. Xu Qiling was promoted to general on July 5th.
Zhang Xudong, who was replaced, served in the 39th Army of the Shenyang Military Region for a long time. After Xi Jinping took office, in early 2014, Zhang Xudong was promoted to commander of the 39th Army; after the military reform in 2016, he was promoted to deputy commander of the Central Theater Command and Commander of the Theater Army. On October 1, 2019, Zhang Xudong served as the deputy commander of the National Day military parade, which is almost a celebrity under Xi Jinping. In December 2020, Zhang Xudong was promoted to the post of commander of the Western Theater Command and was promoted to general. But half a year later, the 59-year-old Zhang Xudong was replaced by Xu Qiling, which is very strange.
Xu Qiling is also 59 years old this year, and his main experience is also in the army; after the military reform in 2016, he served as the deputy commander of the Central Theater Army, which is equivalent to Zhang Xudong’s deputy; in 2018, he was promoted to the commander of the Eastern Theater Army. In April 2020, Xu Qiling was transferred to the commander of the Western Theater Command, and he was promoted to the commander of the Western Theater Command in June of this year. Xu Qiling was promoted to lieutenant general in December 2019, and was promoted to general after one and a half years, which can be described as a surge.
If Xu Qiling is really appreciated by Xi Jinping, he should take over the retired Zhao Zongqi in December 2020 and be promoted to the commander of the western theater. In fact, Zhang Xudong took the lead. It seems that Zhang Xudong is more highly regarded. However, six months later, Zhang Xudong resigned in a strange way.
If Zhang Xudong only went to the western theater for gilding, and then he will not be able to rise again, but there is no further information, it is difficult to confirm whether he may rise, or something happened. If he is purged, it should be regarded as a big earthquake inside the CCP army.
The unusualness of this change may be related to the Sino-Indian border. After Zhang Xudong took charge of the Western Theater, he might be disappointed in handling the Sino-Indian border issues. Xu Qiling, commander of the Army in the Western Theater, may have proposed a plan that satisfies Xi Jinping and was promoted. It may also be that Zhang Xudong really had a major incident and nothing happened temporarily. People were available, so Xu Qiling had to be promoted. Recently, the Chinese and Indian troops have begun to gather on the border again, which is probably not unrelated to this.
The chief officer of the strategic support force is also abnormal
The former commander of the Strategic Support Forces, Li Fengbiao, is less than 62 years old and has at least three years to retire. However, he left his post in June this year; his successor was also promoted to general this time.
Li Fengbiao started from the grassroots level and served as the airborne division commander, army chief of staff, and army commander; in 2014 he was promoted to deputy commander of the Chengdu Military Region. After the military reform in 2016, Li Fengbiao served as deputy commander and chief of staff of the Central Theater; in 2019, he was promoted to commander of the Strategic Support Forces, and he was promoted to general. He was also a member of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Li Fengbiao has not reached the retirement age, so why he stepped down early? There is no definite news. There should be little room for improvement at the age of 62, and the possibility of flattening is greater. If there is no accident, it may also make room for his successor. However, the successor was actually a few months older than Li Fengbiao. He was already 62 years old. He was the former deputy head of the Technical Investigation Department of the General Staff Headquarters. In 2018, he was the commander of the Network System Department of the Strategic Support Forces. Ju Qiansheng was promoted to lieutenant general in 2019 and was promoted to commander of the strategic support forces in June this year. This time he was promoted to general, which is also considered a rapid improvement.
The CCP’s strategic support force is responsible for space, cyber, and psychological warfare, and it should be logical that the commander of the Cyber System Department was promoted to the commander of the strategic support force; however, the senior military officer Li Fengbiao, who is less than 62 years old, should be replaced by a mid-level military officer over 62 years old. , It seems unreasonable; unless Li Fengbiao is highly trusted by Xi Jinping, he needs to hold other important positions, but something may happen.
Of course, it cannot be ruled out that Xi Jinping hopes to upgrade the specifications of cyber forces and prepare for a larger-scale cyber warfare with the United States. The United States and Western countries are stepping up their technological blockade against the CCP. The CCP’s cyber theft will undoubtedly play a bigger role and become more rampant.
The sole chief of the theater of navy resigns
Wang Xiubin, who had just served as the commander of the Southern Theater Command, was also promoted to general this time. He replaced Yuan Yubai, the retired commander of the Southern Theater Command, and was also the only admiral among the chief officers of the Five Major Theaters.
Yuan Yubai served in the Qingdao submarine base, served as base commander, and later as commander of the North Sea Fleet. After the military reform in 2016, Yuan Yubai served as deputy commander of the northern theater and naval commander of the northern theater; in 2017, he was transferred to the southern theater commander and became the first naval general to serve as the theater commander. He retired in June this year.
The main combat direction in the southern theater should be the South China Sea. The CCP’s Shandong aircraft carrier is attached to the Sanya base in Hainan, including the first Type 075 amphibious assault ship that has just entered service. In addition, the CCP’s main strategic nuclear submarine base is also in Sanya, Hainan.
Wang Xiubin, who took over as the commander of the Southern Theater Command, was born in the Army. After the 2016 military reform, Wang Xiubin served as the commander of the First Army of the Eastern Theater; in 2017, he served as the commander of the 80th Army of the Army; in 2019, he was promoted to the deputy commander and chief of staff of the Eastern Theater. Promoted to lieutenant general of the month. This time, Wang Xiubin was promoted to the commander of the southern theater, and he was promoted to lieutenant general one and a half years later, which is also considered a soaring.
At present, the military confrontation between China and the United States in the South China Sea is heating up. As an army general, Wang Xiubin has to draw a question mark. It seems that in the determination of the chief official of the southern theater, the consideration of political loyalty once again surpassed the evaluation of professional quality and ability.
The other person promoted to general this time is Liu Zhenli, who has just replaced the former army commander Han Weiguo, who has just retired, and seems to have nothing to watch.
The promotion ceremony on July 5 was quietly arranged after the party celebration. The unusual replacement of the chief officer of the western theater and the strategic support force may be the main reason. It is very likely that it was not the good news of the CCP army that it was not included in the party celebration series. In other words, some senior military officers may have blocked Xi Jinping, so that he could not laugh at Tiananmen Gate on July 1.
After Xi Jinping took over the military power, he continued to clean up the officer system arranged by the previous dynasty. After the forceful implementation of military reforms, it did have the effect of reshuffling the cards, but he could still only be promoted from the original officers. Some were promoted quickly, but they had to be promoted. Whether or not the officers are really loyal should always be questioned during the exchange of officers from east to west and north to south.
Regardless of whether there may be more shocking stories behind the replacement of the chief officer of the theater or the service, it is certain that loyalty to Xi Jinping has increasingly become the first prerequisite for the promotion of officers. Facts show that Xi Jinping’s worries about military power should increase unabated.
Editor in charge: Gao Yi#
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