Chinese President Xi Jinping has removed from their post General Li Yuchao and his deputy Liu Guangbin, head and deputy head of the Chinese army unit that manages the national arsenal of land-based ballistic missiles. The removal of Yuchao and Guangbin is seen by many analysts as a purge and a way for Xi to continue to consolidate his power over the army, eliminating people suspected of corruption and appointing those he considers most loyal to him to important positions.
Yuchao and Guangbin have not seen each other in public for months and it is not known where they are at the moment: last week, citing anonymous sources, the newspaper South China Morning Post he had written that an investigation had been opened against the two by the anti-corruption unit of the Central Military Commission, an organization that manages the army and other armed forces of China. Yuchao and Guangbin they will come replaced by Wang Houbin and Xu Xisheng, former deputy chief of the Chinese Navy and former deputy political commissar of the South Theater Command, a command of the Chinese army (the political commissar holds mostly administrative and representative positions within the army units to which he is assigned).