There appears to be growing factionalism within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which this year has removed 19 senior officials from office ahead of the party’s 20th National Congress, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Tuesday.
In its most recent quarterly report on the situation in China, the council said that the preparations Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had ordered for this year’s National Congress included removing 19 officials from office and installing officials in 25 government agencies to conduct inspections.
Among those fired were Beijing municipal official Yu Luming (于魯明), Tibet Autonomous Region official Zhang Yongze (張永澤), Xiamen City People’s Congress official Chen Jiadong (陳家東) and Liaoning Province official Hao Chunrong (郝春榮), the report said.
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Nine of the fired officials, including Hangzhou municipal official Zhou Jiangyong (周江勇), were also indicted, it said.
The Chinese Central Military Commission’s Training and Administration Department had stepped up preparations for “emergency combat,” but the move did not appear to be in preparation for a military conflict with Taiwan, the report said.
The preparations reflected an order by Xi earlier this year for China’s military to improve its ability to respond to emergency combat scenarios, it said.
Xi has promoted seven generals, which appears to have been aimed at solidifying his grip over the military leadership ahead of the congress, it said.
The commanders of all five major theaters of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) are now army generals, which would not be conducive to a strategic transformation from local defense to an outward-oriented offensive and defensive strategy, the report said.
However, the move could be part of Xi’s attempts to bolster the PLA’s training and combat tasks directed at Taiwan, it said.
Citing an example of a cross-service transfer, the report said that Kong Jun (孔軍), commander of the Eastern Theater Command stationed in Fuzhou City in China’s Fujian Province, was transferred to the role last year from his position as commander of the PLA Navy Marine Corps.
Peng Jingtang (彭京堂), a former chief of staff of the Xinjiang Armed Police Corps, was recently transferred to command the PLA’s Hong Kong Garrison as part of Xi’s efforts to strengthen his grip on the territory, the report said.
Major General Lai Ruxin (賴如鑫), a former commander of the Northern Theater Command, was also transferred to the Hong Kong Garrison, where he is its political commissar, the report said.
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