Xi’s military purge of top general may set back his Taiwan ambitions

TAIPEI – China’s leader Xi Jinping has said that great danger and opportunity often arrive together. That is acutely true for him now that he has eviscerated the Chinese military’s high command, leaving a void that he is expected to fill with a new generation of handpicked loyalists.

The purging of China’s top general, Zhang Youxia last week was a stunning display of Mr Xi’s autocratic dominance over the military, the ultimate source of power for Chinese leaders. But the hollowing out of the People’s Liberation Army’s leadership also complicates Mr Xi’s long-standing ambition to bring Taiwan under Beijing’s control, by force if he deems it necessary.