[China] Xi fills top military posts with loyalists

Nikkei ^ | October 26, 2017 | SHUNSUKE TABETA and OKI NAGAI

[TigerLikesRooster]

Xi fills top military posts with loyalists

Eliminating anyone close to predecessor Hu, president gains control of PLA

SHUNSUKE TABETA and OKI NAGAI, Nikkei staff writers

BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has the armed forces firmly under his thumb as he begins another five-year term, having succeeded in staffing the military's top command positions with his allies.

The members of the Central Military Commission were selected at the first plenary session of the Communist Party's 19th Central Committee on Wednesday. The military body also was shrunk from 11 to seven members including Xi, its chairman. The remaining six posts were filled by military officials who were handpicked for promotion by the president himself during his first term.



Staying on as one of two vice chairmen -- the top post of China's uniformed military commanders -- is Xu Qiliang, a close Xi ally who has pushed military reform with the president's blessing. The second spot passed to Zhang Youxia, a general whose deep ties to the president trace back to their parents' generation. Zhang succeeded the retiring Fan Changlong, who was close to Xi's predecessor Hu Jintao. Party leaders had considered adding two more vice-chairman positions, but refrained at this juncture.

Zhang has played a key role in the military's modernization, including overseeing the construction of China's first domestically built aircraft carrier.

[TigerLikesRooster]

P!

[grey_whiskers]

Taking notes from The Donald, and imitating.

The Chinese have always been willing to plagiarize Western technology.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Xi emerged from the recent party conference as an absolute ruler. In the near term, if he makes a decision, everybody would fall in line. If Trump can convince Xi to agree to a deal in solving the N. Korean problem with drastic means, it would be pushed through with little internal opposition in China. To what extent Xi will cooperate is still an on-going question, even though their recent implementation of sanctions went beyond usual window-dressing.

[familyop]

So China has an emperor again—Emperor Xi.

[ifinnegan]

“So China has an emperor again—Emperor Xi.”

Yeah, but it’s in Xi’s dreams.

Mao and Deng were Long March vets.

Jiang and Hu were named by Deng.

There is no overriding “authority” anymore. It’s a pure power play and Xi doesn’t have that power.

Maybe for the time being.

[Zhang Fei]

The thing with “loyalists” in China is that every one of them has his own ambitions. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is nothing if not an extended continental-scale chronicle of clashing personal ambition. As a princeling who inherited his position, Xi lacks the personal prestige of Mao or Deng. Mao was the Communist god emperor. Deng was a key PLA commander during the decisive battle* that broke Chiang’s armies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaihai_Campaign

* This was the battle that led Truman, the overrated moron, to stop supplying the Nationalists even as the Soviets ramped up equipment shipments to Mao’s Communists. The result? 100K dead GI’s in Korea and Vietnam, thanks to a Communist China. Just how big a mistake was Truman’s? 100K GI’s was what the US lost fighting Japan in all of WWII. That imbecile should be on the list of worst presidents ever, not deified, as he tends to be, by so many conservatives.

[TigerLikesRooster]

China is made up of many regional power bases. Each has enough population and resources to be self-sustaining. They have diverse interests. It is hard to maintain unity among them to present China as a monolithic power, when any major figure can go back to his home region and launch his own bid for power.

Xi made his choice, and to maintain his power, he has to become a real-life big brother. He already has a fitting nickname "Xi Dada."

[familyop]

Mr. Xi has lifelong military experience as a leader. It started with his father. He has shown extreme discipline, focus and forethought all along the way, despite what Mao did to his father: a hero of the revolution. It's an interesting history from the perspective of a former instructor of new, U.S. combat (platoon--not section) MOS NCOs.

Xi Jinping Presses Military Overhaul, and Two Generals Disappear
New York Times
By CHRIS BUCKLEY and STEVEN LEE MYERSOCT. 11, 2017
[Excerpt:]
"Mr. Xi 'has been able to take political control of the military to an extent that exceeds what Mao and Deng have done,' said Tai Ming Cheung, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, who studies China’s defense forces. 'He has already demonstrated ahead of the congress his ability to elevate key commanders that are close to him.' The abrupt disappearance of the two generals before the congress underlined how ruthlessly Mr. Xi was willing to act."

The thoughts of Chairman Xi

He has the accumulated knowledge of many from the past and has practiced what he learned in many ways. Very impressive. Our U.S. Army has a leadership advantage over that, though.

And many things in reality are different from what has been seen in movies. Pride goes before a fall. Humility is of utmost importance to learning. For example, many puffed up, vain experts--making unfounded exclamations about "duds" and the like--underestimated North Korea and misinterpreted China and Russia. Preferring to follow their cravings, disloyalty and fears, they rejected knowledge, reason and truth to the detriment of their nation.

[PIF]

“He already has a fitting nickname “Xi Dada.”

That instead of “Panda Face” ...