HONG KONG (Reuters) – The new members of the military’s top leadership under Xi Jinping, who was reappointed as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, were chosen largely because of their loyalty to Xi. Such a relationship would serve one important military purpose in planning an invasion of Taiwan. It is to ensure undisturbed unity and strong decisiveness.
If there was an actual invasion of Taiwan, the final decision would be made by the Standing Committee of the Politburo, the highest leadership of the Communist Party, but the Central Military Commission would be responsible for formulating and implementing the battle plan, explains the highest organ of the army, and Western military attachés in China.
“We will never undertake to renounce the use of force” against Taiwan, Xi said in a political report to the Communist Party Congress, before electing three new members to the Central Military Commission on Thursday.
The four security experts and four military attachés drew attention to Russia’s “swamp” in Ukraine, and warned that if China planned to invade Taiwan, the Taiwanese military and the international community would take the lead. preparing and carrying out an invasion, even from the point of view of control.
“If Xi wants to pull the trigger on an invasion of Taiwan, he cannot afford to listen to opposition from the Central Military Commission. , he must act in a lightning bolt, there is no room for hesitation. This is what the Chinese side always thinks about Taiwan. The situation in Ukraine confirms the need to avoid delays in building a supply posture and going out of business.
Xi, who has strengthened the party’s control over the military, has sent three new members to the Central Military Commission, and retained General Zhang Yuxia, the most trusted member of the military, as the group’s top vice chairman. in uniform and further increase his influence. Zhang Yuxia was 72 years old, the age to retire according to the customs of the CMC.
James Char, a military researcher at Singapore’s Rajatnam Institute of International Studies, said, “The appointment of Mr. Xi, who broke the precedent, was to achieve two benefits at the same time.” He explained that he was able to keep a man of authority and political credibility at the top the group in uniform.
Zhang Yuxia is so powerful that the US Department of Defense described him as the “little prince” of the People’s Liberation Army in a report on China’s military modernization released last year. Mr Zhang and Mr Xi are related that their fathers were fellow soldiers in the 1949 Chinese Civil War.
General Lee Sang Bok, one of Zhang Yuxia’s children, was also promoted to a member of the Central Military Commission this time. What is important is that Lee has experience in the Strategic Support Force, which is responsible for electronic warfare, cyber warfare, and warfare in space.
Second in rank to Zhang Yuxia on the Central Military Commission is General He Wei Dong, former head of the Eastern Theater Command, which includes Taiwan as its operational area. In August this year, He Weidong oversaw China’s unprecedented scale of military exercises near the Taiwan Strait in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
He Weidong is known to have a close relationship with Mr Xi when he served in the 31st Army Group in the province when Mr Xi was a provincial executive. Admiral Miao Hua, head of the Political Work Department, who also remained a member of the Central Military Commission, has a similar background.
This time, 58-year-old Liu Zhenli, a former member of the People’s Armed Police in charge of internal security, joined the CMC, creating a generational age spread. Along with Zhang Yuxia, he fought in the intermittent Sino-Vietnamese border disputes in the late 1980s.
However, one Asian military attache in China said that despite the recent evolution of the People’s Liberation Army, it clearly has no war experience at this point. “All the drills and parades can’t take his place. There is a clear question, for themselves and for those of us watching from the outside, that the PLA can fight a war,” he said.
(Reporter by Greg Torode)
