As Xi Jinping has solidified his grip on power in China, he has compared himself to a physician, eliminating the corruption and disloyalty that threaten the rule of the Communist Party. And his main project for over a decade has been to bring under control the once extremely corrupt military leadership.
However, recent disruptions at high levels of the People’s Liberation Army suggest that Mr. Xi’s solution has not been successful. Last week, he suddenly replaced two top generals in the Rocket Force, a shake-up that was not explained and implies suspicions of corruption or other misconduct in the sensitive branch of the military that oversees conventional and nuclear missiles.
“Obviously, something has gone wrong in the system, which is probably related to discipline and corruption,” said Andrew N.D. Yang, an expert on the Chinese military who previously held a senior position in Taiwanese defense. “It’s like a virus in the system that has resurfaced. It’s a deep-rooted problem, and it has persisted in the system.”
A scandal involving the top military officials would be a setback for Mr. Xi, who has taken pride in transforming the 98 million-strong Communist Party and the Chinese military into unwavering enforcers of his rule. Just days before the generals were removed, Mr. Xi also dismissed the foreign minister, Qin Gang, another troublesome dismissal for Mr. Xi, who had promoted Mr. Qin as a trusted enforcer of his policies.
The signs of misconduct are likely to reinforce Mr. Xi’s belief that China’s officials can only be kept in line through intense scrutiny and pressure from above. This strategy includes subjecting party members to constant inspections by party investigators, campaigns to instill loyalty to the Communist Party and to Mr. Xi, as well as dismissals and arrests.
In Mr. Xi’s perspective, “you never reach a point where the danger subsides,” said Joseph Torigian, an assistant professor at American University in Washington who studies elite politics in China. “Even when you have an absolutely dominant leader, it doesn’t mean there isn’t turbulence in the system.”
When Mr. Xi assumed power in 2012, he acted swiftly to eradicate corruption and lax discipline in the People’s Liberation Army, suppressing potential rivals and consolidating power around himself — a reform that served as an example for his transformation of China as a whole.
In 2014, Mr. Xi gathered hundreds of senior officers at the same location where Mao Zedong had exerted his influence over the revolutionary Red Army. Mr. Xi warned them that the military was decaying from within. Investigators had uncovered Xu Caihou, a former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission — the party’s body for controlling the armed forces — who had amassed a fortune through bribery; a general who hoarded jewels and cash in his residences and consulted fortune tellers; officers engaging in the buying and selling of promotions; and even some selling classified information.
Mr. Xi was also cautioning about the deepening rivalry with…
2023-08-07 02:03:03
Article from www.nytimes.com
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