The Beijing leadership has
reshuffled the high command of the People's
Liberation Army (PLA) as the military goes through
its own leadership transition separate from but
linked to the 18th Party Congress. The move has
also given hints about the reorganization of the
policy-setting Central Military Commission (CMC).
The membership of a much rejuvenated CMC will be
confirmed by the 18th Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) Congress.
Although this round of
personnel selection reinforces the PLA's
increasing dedication to professionalism in its
upper echelons, this series of personnel changes
also reflects intense horse-trading among the
party's principal factions.
The new chiefs
of the "Four General Departments" - the General
Staff Department (GSD),
General Political Department (GPD), General
Logistics Department (GLD) and General Armaments
Department (GAD) - are respectively General Fang
Fenghui (aged 61); General Zhang Yang (61);
General Zhao Keshi (65); and General Zhang Youxia
(62). Moreover, General Ma Xiaotian, (aged 63) and
General Wei Fenghe (58) have been appointed
commander of respectively the Air Force and the
Second Artillery (which is in charge of the
country's nuclear armory).
The incumbent
Commander of the Navy, Wu Shengli (67) is expected
to remain in his post for the foreseeable future.
Also named were a dozen-odd new deputy and
assistant chiefs of the headquarters units as well
as the Navy, Air Force and Second Artillery.
The chiefs of the four general departments
as well as the three military divisions will
become ordinary members of the CMC. Uncertainties,
however, still hang over the identities of the top
CMC leadership. According to reports out of
Beijing and Hong Kong, President Hu (aged 69) will
stay on as CMC chairman for at least two years
beyond his retirement from the Politburo and the
Central Committee at the 18th CCP Congress. The
precedent for this in the post-revolutionary
generation was set by ex-president Jiang Zemin,
who continued being CMC chair for almost two years
after his retirement from all other party slots at
the 16th Party Congress in 2002. This means that
Vice President Xi Jinping (59), who is slated to
soon replace Hu as CCP general secretary, will
remain CMC vice chairman for the time being.
The two new CMC vice chairmen are former
PLA Air Force Commander General Xu Qiliang (62)
and Commander of the Jinan Military Region General
Fan Changlong (who is aged 65). The newly retired
GAD Director, General Chang Wanquan (age 63) is
set to replace General Liang Guanglie as Defense
Minister.
The just-named Chief of the
General Staff General Fang perhaps best
exemplifies the new generation of professionally
savvy officers. Fang, a native of Shaanxi Province
and graduate of the elite National Defense
University, was the youngest of China's seven
regional commanders when he was given the No. 1
post of the Beijing Military Region (MR) in 2007.
Apart from his command-and-control skills, Fang is
a much-published author on military strategy,
particularly in the areas of computer-aided war
games and the synchronization of different
branches of the military forces.
One of
General Fang's favorite mottoes is that "radically
changing times demand innovation in strategic
theories". President Hu was said to be very
impressed with Fang's orchestration of the 2009
military parade in Bejing, which marked the 60th
anniversary of the founding of the People's
Republic. Last year, Fang won plaudits when he
supervised complicated-scale maneuvers involving
more than 30,000 soldiers from the Beijing,
Lanzhou and Chengdu MRs. While the great majority
of his predecessors as Beijing MR commander went
into retirement after serving in this sensitive
position, General Fang seems to have a bright
future ahead of him.
Two hot contenders
for the post of GPD director lost out apparently
due to their close association with the disgraced
Politburo member and Chongqing Party Secretary Bo
Xilai. They are the Political Commissar of the
General Logistics Department General Liu Yuan
(aged 61) and the Political Commissar of the
Second Artillery General Zhang Haiyang (63).
Like Bo, who is the son of revolutionary
hero Bo Yibo, Generals Liu and Zhang are deemed
high-profile princelings. General Liu is the son
of the late state president Liu Shaoqi, while
General Zhang is the son of former Politburo
member General Zhang Zhen. While Bo has never
served in the PLA, he has a large following
amongst the "princeling generals". The charismatic
former Politburo member is due to be put on trial
for alleged crimes including large-scale
corruption and dereliction of duty.
After
Bo was detained by authorities in mid-March, PLA
disciplinary authorities have run numerous
campaigns to promote the ideal of "the party's
absolute leadership over the army". An August 1
Army Day commentary in the PLA Daily made an
unusual reference to the army's immunity against
being manipulated by "ambitious careerists" in the
mould of Bo.
"In the midst of even the
most dangerous situations, not a single troop in
our army's history has mutineered or surrendered
to the enemy," said the Daily commentary, "And not
even the most cunning and ambitious careerist has
been able to use the army to realize his
conspiracy". In a talk last month, then-CMC vice
chairman Xu Caihou urged officers and soldiers to
"ensure that the troops must uphold a high level
of unison with the central party leadership and
the CMC in the areas of thought and politics." Xu
added "We must resolutely listen to the directions
of the party central leadership, the CMC and
Chairman Hu".
In terms of factional
dynamics, President Hu seems to be a major
beneficiary of the reshuffle. Apart from Chief of
the General Staff General Fang, GPD Director
General Zhang is said to be close to the supremo.
Given that the GPD controls functions including
appointments and discipline, Hu may through his
close ties with General Zhang be able to maintain
some say in personnel matters even after his
departure from the CMC.
Hu's clout also is
evidenced by the surprise appointment of another
protege, the relatively inexperienced Hong Kong
Garrison commander Zhang Shibo, as General Fang's
successor as Beijing MR commander. Before assuming
the Hong Kong posting in late 2007, Zhang, a
60-year-old lieutenant general, was commander of
the 20th Group Army.
Other appointments
may reflect the preferences of ex-president Jiang
and Vice President Xi. The probable promotion of
Jinan MR Commander General Fan to the CMC vice
chairmanship reflects Jiang's residual influence.
General Fan is the protege of soon-to-retire CMC
Vice Chairman General Xu, who is deemed Jiang's
"unofficial representative" in the CMC. Both
Generals Xu and Fan had served for long periods in
the 16th Group Army. Earlier this year, General
Fan (65) was expected to be leaving the armed
forces after having reached the mandatory
retirement age for regional commanders.
Xi's influence in the PLA has been
adversely affected by the fact that the career of
several princeling generals has been hurt by their
association with Bo Xilai. New Air Force commander
General Ma Xiaotian and GAD Director General Zhang
Youxia, however, are notable princelings. General
Zhang is thought to be particularly close to Xi.
The fathers of Xi and General Zhang, respectively
Xi Zhongxun and General Zhang Zongxun, were close
allies when both worked in northwestern China
before the CCP came into power in 1949.
The marathon reshuffles also have followed
the tradition begun by President Hu of the
frequent movement of personnel not only across
different military divisions but also from
headquarters to the regions. For example, the
Political Commissar of the Chengdu MR, General
Tian Xiusi, was made the Political Commissar of
the Air Force. Assistant GPD Director General Wei
Liangzhong became the Political Commissar of the
Guangzhou MR, while General Wang Guanzhong, the
veteran Director of the PLA General Office, was
appointed a Deputy Chief of the GSD.
Also
notable are the proverbial "helicopter rides"
taken by the likes of General Fan of the Jinan MR
and General Zhang of the Hong Kong Garrison. It is
very rare for a regional commander to be elevated
directly to CMC vice chairman. General Zhang's
promotion to the post of Beijing MR Commander is
also unusual. In light of the importance of the
Beijing MR, only officers who had held senior
posts such as deputy commander or chief of the
general staff of the country's seven MRs had been
named to that sensitive slot.
Given that
factional loyalty is a key consideration behind
the on-going personnel movements, it is perhaps
not surprising that not as much priority has been
given to weeding out corruption in the military.
This is despite the fact that General Liu Yuan -
one of the high-profile losers in the promotion
sweepstakes - was praised highly for initiating an
anti-graft campaign within the GLD early this
year.
Senior Colonel Liu Mingfu, a
professor at the National Defense University and a
respected military commentator, pointed out
recently that "corrupt generals" were an even more
serious problem than "corrupt cadres". Last month,
Liu said "Corruption is the only force that can
defeat the PLA."
"Yet the forces of
corruption are more powerful than those of
fighting corruption," he added. "And perpetrators
of corruption are more resourceful than graft
busters". The onus is on the post-18th Party
Congress leadership to demonstrate that members of
the newly promoted top brass live up to the
oft-repeated motto of decai jianbei, that
is, "having high moral attributes as well as being
professionally competent".
Dr Willy
Wo-Lap Lam is a Senior Fellow at The Jamestown
Foundation. He has worked in senior editorial
positions in international media including
Asiaweek newsmagazine, South China Morning Post,
and the Asia-Pacific Headquarters of CNN. He is
the author of five books on China, including the
recently published Chinese Politics in the Hu
Jintao Era: New Leaders, New Challenges. Lam is
an Adjunct Professor of China studies at Akita
International University, Japan, and at the
Chinese University of Hong Kong.
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