Micah McCartney
Scores of officials have been snagged in Chinese leader Xi Jinping's campaign to cleanse vulnerable sections of the military of corruption, a China-focused consulting firm says.
The ongoing reshuffling "will have extensive ramifications for the chain of command, as well as the combat readiness/ability to function normally of critical [People's Liberation Army] infrastructure," Canada-based Cercius Group said.
Over the summer, Xi suddenly replaced top generals in the PLA Rocket Force, which oversees China's nuclear and conventional arsenals. Li Shangfu and Qin Gang, who were then China's defense minister and its top diplomat, disappeared within weeks of them, just months after being appointed to office.
The ousters led to questions in the global security space over the stability of Beijing's security apparatus at a time when military-to-military lines of communication with the United States were frozen.
"So far, we have been able to track down around 70 individuals who have been taken away within the larger frame of the Rocket Force investigation," the Asia Sentinel website quoted Cercius as saying earlier this month.
The investigation has two targets: political and financial corruption, the firm told Newsweek.
The goal of investigations in the first category is to ensure "everyone dances to Xi's tune when it comes to a potential Taiwan campaign," Cercius said. Xi also seeks to oust potentially disloyal PLA officials who are "forming cliques."
China has vowed to unify self-ruled Taiwan, through force if necessary, although the current Chinese government has never governed there. Xi has instructed his military to be ready for a potential war over Taiwan by 2027.
Xi's doubt alone is sufficient cause for removal—regardless of actual guilt, according to Cercius.
China's Foreign Ministry and its embassy in Washington, D.C., didn't respond to Newsweek's written request for comment by publication time.
Chinese President Xi Jinping looks at the square before delivering a speech at the beginning of the military parade for the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China, on October 01, 2019, at Tiananmen Square, Beijing.
The Communist Party leadership's crackdown on PLA officials began with the Rocket Force and later expanded to include the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission—led by ex-defense chief Li from 2017-2022—as well as the PLA Strategic Support Force and the commission's Logistic Support Department.
However, the brand of corruption in PLA organs responsible for procuring and developing equipment goes beyond embezzlement and kickbacks from state-owned enterprises, Cercius said.
Critically, it affects China's ability to wage war—because corruption that results in subpar quality control of military equipment chips away at combat readiness.
Xi's "best-case scenario" would be transferring "low-level or potentially defective" equipment to other developing countries and resetting production under more stable conditions after the dust from the reshuffle has settled, the consulting firm said.
Cercius dismissed recent reports citing anonymous sources alleging Qin and relatives of Rocket Force officials had helped leak nuclear secrets to American spies.
Given the opaque, siloed nature of China's bureaucracy, gaining access to another ministry or administration is difficult without a higher authority's permission or ties with the other organ's leadership.
"Because Qin was not even remotely connected to the PLA, we find this sort of assumption absurd," Cercius said.
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