The Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China ratified the expulsion from the party of 16 generals including former Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission Zhang Youxia and former Chief of Staff of the Joint Staff Liu Zhenli. Scholars pointed out two key indicators at the Safe Taiwan Society symposium today (31st): In the nine months since Zhang Youxia was dismissed in January this year, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, "has not gone to the local area to inspect the troops stationed there", and there are currently 6 generals who "have no "One person controls the actual strength of the army." For the first time, Air Force General Han Sheng-yeon was appointed as the commander of the Central Theater Command, which even defends Gyeonggi Province. This shows that Xi has extreme distrust of the military and has completely eliminated the People's Liberation Army's ability to intervene in the political situation or launch a coup.
The Safe Taiwan Institute held a symposium this afternoon on "Possible Evolution of the CCP's Internal Situation and Its Impact on Taiwan after the Fifth Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China" under the guidance of the Mainland Affairs Council. It was chaired by Chairman Yang Taiyuan and invited Shen Youzhong, deputy chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, to deliver a speech. He also invited professors from the Institute of Military Affairs of the Chinese Communist Party at the National Defense University. Professor Ma Zhenkun, researcher of the China Strategic Foresight Association Xu Shengtai, associate professor of the Department of Political Science at National Taiwan University Chen Shimin, deputy researcher Jie Zhong appointed by the National Defense Academy, associate researcher Zeng Weifeng of the Center for International Relations of the National Chengchi University, researcher Cai Wenxuan of the Institute of Political Science of the Academia Sinica, and Bai Bangting, a specialist member of the Maritime Commission, attended the talks.
Many scholars shared their observations and pointed out that in the past, when Xi Jinping went to local inspections, he almost always inspected the troops stationed there and expressed condolences; however, in the nine months since Zhang Youxia was investigated and dismissed from his post in January this year, there is no record of Xi Jinping inspecting local troops in the media.
Chen Shimin believes that the arrests of Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli have implicated hundreds to thousands of mid-level and high-level officers, and the purge has extended to combat troops, which shows that Xi Jinping has a high degree of distrust of the People's Liberation Army, and even fears that once a foreign war is launched, various war zones will take the opportunity to "activate armed forces" or rebel.
Zeng Weifeng pointed out that the failure to replenish military personnel and inspect the troops reflects that the military reorganization has not yet been completed; in the future, if Xi Jinping resumes local inspections of the troops, it will mean that Zhang Youxia's troops in the military have been eliminated to a level acceptable to Xi, and the reconstruction of the PLA has officially begun.
Ma Zhenkun further analyzed that among the 16 generals who were expelled from the party this time, 7 had a background in commanding actual army troops, and they all held heavy local troops in the past. On the other hand, there were only 6 active generals left after the purge, including Zhang Shengmin, Vice Chairman of the Military Commission , Defense Minister Dong Jun, Eastern Theater Command Commander Yang Zhibin, Central Theater Command Commander Han Shengyan, Military Discipline Inspection Commission Secretary Zhang Shuguang, and Air Force Commander Wang Gang, none of them came from the Army's military command system and none of them has actual military power in the Army.
Ma Zhenkun pointed out that the 81st, 82nd, and 83rd Group Armies are under the jurisdiction of the Central Theater Command (including the predecessor of the Beijing Military Region), which is responsible for defending the capital of Beijing and the center of the Yellow River defense line. Since the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, the commander has been an army general because it can attack the capital internally and prevent other troops from entering the capital. Now, for the first time, Air Force General Han Shengyan has been appointed as the commander. In addition, these six generals all come from ordinary families. None of them have the family background of the second generation of red or high-ranking party, government, or military officials. They have never served as secretaries or staff members of the Politburo during their military careers. "Their only background is Xi Jinping."
Ma Zhenkun emphasized that from 1976 when Ye Jianying arrested the Gang of Four, in 1989 when Deng Xiaoping mobilized troops to Beijing and placed Zhao Ziyang under house arrest during the June 4th Incident, Jiang Zemin used Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou to sideline Hu Jintao, to in 2012 when the Zhou Yongkang and Bo Xilai incident occurred, the Communist Army has They play a key role in the succession of power and political turmoil; now that Xi Jinping has completely eliminated all actual army generals, he has objectively eliminated the People's Liberation Army's ability to interfere in the political situation and leadership succession, limiting the future struggle for the CCP's power succession to "civilian struggle" rather than "violent struggle."
