President Xi has achieved total control of China’s armed forces after removing a top general over alleged ‘violations of discipline and law’.
Zhang Youxia is the latest high-ranking figure subjected to Xi Jinping‘s long-running purge of military officials.
Experts say the removal of Gen Zhang is likely to delay any attempt to seize Taiwan by force.
The general was thought of as central to modernisation efforts in the Chinese armed forces given his role as senior vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC).
Lyle Morris, a senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank, likened President Xi’s actions to a ‘complete cleaning of the house… the biggest purge in Chinese history since 1949’.
Mr Morris added the removal could leave the PLA in ‘disarray’.
He told The Telegraph: ‘We can all sleep soundly for years.
‘There is no way they could pull off the Taiwan contingency with no senior leaders in charge.’
Christopher K Johnson, a former CIA analyst who follows elite Chinese politics, said Beijing is capable of pumping out impressive, hi-tech weaponary.
However, he said the country’s weakness is its lack of ‘software’ able to conduct large-scale military manoeuvres.
But Mr Morris added the removals in fact suggested President Xi has a ‘lot of support in the party and is fully in charge’.
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This is a Kill-or-be-Killed (KOBK) move. Xi is removing any and all threats of a military coup, which has been suspected to be in offing for the past year or so. ABN
American Buddhist Net 