BEIJING: Purges and a promotion

Lee Gim Siong

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BEIJING: Purges and a promotion - China’s shake-up of its military top brass at a key Communist Party gathering underscores President Xi Jinping’s drive to reinforce loyalty and control over the armed forces as the country marches towards a series of political milestones, say analysts.

The expulsion of senior generals and the elevation of long-time graft-buster Zhang Shengmin to vice chair of the Central Military Commission (CMC) are targeted moves to steady confidence in a military unsettled by corruption probes, they note.

The shake-up also effectively marks the squeezing out of the so-called Fujian clique - a network of senior commanders who once dominated the Eastern Theater Command, the unit responsible for operations around Taiwan.

Xi is familiar with many of these figures, having spent more than a decade rising through the political ranks in Fujian before moving on to other provinces and later national leadership.

Analysts say their removal not only signals Xi’s tightening grip over the strategically crucial command but also underscores his willingness to dismantle even factions once seen as loyal to him.

While analysts expect the Chinese supremo’s sweeping corruption crackdown to continue and possibly intensify following the reshuffle, they do not believe it will undermine the armed forces’ operational performance or modernisation goals.

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The personnel changes were confirmed on Thursday (Oct 23) in a communique issued after the close of the fourth plenum, a four-day gathering of the Central Committee that also endorsed the country’s next five-year development blueprint.

The Central Committee sits below the Politburo and its apex standing committee, comprising about 200 full and 170 alternate members drawn from the party elite.

"The plenary session decided to endorse Zhang Shengmin as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission," the communique tersely stated.

Zhang Shengmin, the top anti-graft enforcer in China's armed forces, has been named the new vice chair of the Central Military Commission. (File photo: Reuters/Florence Lo)

Zhang Shengmin, 67, is a veteran political officer who has been secretary of the CMC’s Discipline Inspection Commission since 2017, serving as a key enforcer of Xi’s sweeping military clean-up.

He succeeds He Weidong, the former vice chair who, along with ex-CMC Political Work Department chief Miao Hua, was expelled from both the military and the party.