China replaces commanders overseeing Beijing, Taiwan operations
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Chinese President Xi Jinping at a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Beijing on Sept 3.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BEIJING – Chinese President Xi Jinping has installed new military leadership for its central and eastern regions amid an unprecedented purge of the top defence echelons.
General Yang Zhibin has become commander of the Eastern Theatre Command, responsible for Taiwan operations, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
The report also named General Han Shengyan as the new commander of the Central Theatre Command, which oversees defence forces in the capital Beijing, Tianjin and five other provinces.
The moves were revealed at a general promotion ceremony on Dec 22 – Mr Xi’s first so far in 2025 – and came after the ouster of several top generals.
The former commander of the Taiwan command, General Lin Xiangyang, was removed in October for violating party discipline and laws.
Meanwhile, General Wang Qiang, the former Central Theatre commander, missed a military parade in Beijing in September
The report did not indicate Gen Wang’s next job.
At that parade in September, China showed off the country’s latest combat drones and nuclear weapons, demonstrating its broader efforts to modernise the army and challenge US supremacy despite an ongoing corruption campaign in the military.
China has launched military purges in response to what US intelligence believes is widespread corruption undermining Mr Xi’s ambitions.
A major concern appears to be graft that has eroded the quality of the weapons and capabilities of units such as the Rocket Force
The unit oversees China’s missiles and nuclear arsenal and will be instrumental if China invades Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy that Beijing sees as part of its territory.
But that crackdown has since rippled across the defence establishment to take down two former defence ministers
Gen Han was serving as commander of the Central Theatre Command’s Air Force, a branch that has so far seen relatively fewer public announcements of corruption purges. He stood in for Gen Wang during the September parade.
Gen Yang, who also has an air force background, was until recently the vice-commander of the Eastern Theatre Command. He attended a memorial of the Nanjing Massacre earlier in December. BLOOMBERG
