In China, President Xi Jinping’s tightening grip over the military has seen a crackdown on corruption and the departure of no less than 15 top ranking figures including Defence Minister Li Shangfu. Now General Qin Shutong, responsible for discipline and political loyalty in the world’s biggest army, has been abruptly shunted out.
His replacement is Gen Chen Hui, who has been named the new political commissar for the PLA Ground Forces. According to China’s state-run Xinhua, Chen Hui who has had a long career in the air force, was some months ago named political commissar of the PLA Aerospace Force, a new creation. He has no experience of ground operations.
It was not clear if Qin Shutong had been moved out as part of some routine re-deployment, but there was nothing about where he had gone. Speculation has centered on the possibility that he is the latest high ranking officer to fall foul of Xi Jinping’s sweeping crackdown on graft in China’s armed forces, believed to be widespread.
Neither Qin nor the Ground Forces Commander Gen Li Qiaoming, were present at the ceremony where Gen Chen Hui was promoted.
Earlier, Miao Hua, who served in the Central Military Commission, was suspended along with others linked to the Strategic Rocket Forces. Miao came from the navy.
The US believes corruption in the military and the high-profile investigations ordered by the president, suggest the PLA’s modernisation drive could be in serious trouble.
Xi had shut down the Strategic Forces, replacing it with three new branches. In 2014, he held the first military political work conference, a conclave he has used in the past to assert his control over the military.
Ironically, all this is happening at a time when China has stepped up military activity around Taiwan, with naval and air patrols violating the island’s air defence identification zone.
