FLASH
Shkruar nga Katrin Büchenbacher
China's party and state leader has dismissed the army's top general, Zhang Youxia. With this purge, Xi Jinping aims to eliminate any threat to his rule...
The latest purge at the top of the Chinese military is unprecedented since the time of Mao Zedong. For decades, the military was run by a collective leadership, the Central Military Commission. Xi Jinping is at its head, but he has little respect for collective leadership. Since 2023, he has been steadily dismantling the body. After this weekend, only one member of the former leadership remains.
Xi Jinping has made fear a central government tactic. He has used it since taking office in late 2012 to consolidate his power. At that time, he launched his anti-corruption campaign, which claimed five million party cadres over a decade. He also removed term limits from the constitution, meaning he could potentially rule for life.
However, whether he will succeed is uncertain. He is fighting a daily battle. Therefore, Xi Jinping has never stopped sowing uncertainty and fear with his anti-corruption campaign. In recent years, he has focused on senior military leaders, who are likely to form an alternative center of power.
He replaced the defense minister twice in a row. He replaced almost the entire leadership of the missile forces. The missiles form the strategic backbone of the People's Liberation Army; they embody nuclear deterrence, intimidate Taiwan, and threaten US dominance in the Western Pacific.
Loyalty to Xi no longer offers protection
Xi Jinping has now dismissed the army's top general, Zhang Youxia, and the armed forces' chief of operations, Liu Zhenli. Zhang and Liu were among the few military leaders with active combat experience who possessed natural credibility and authority within the military. Both were promoted by Xi and were considered loyal.
Despite their loyalty, they had apparently become too powerful for Xi. They were competent, had their own networks, and thus enjoyed legitimacy and a degree of autonomy. They did not hold their positions solely because of Xi Jinping. Therefore, the party leader may have seen them as a residual threat that he wanted to eliminate. Xi Jinping plans to seek re-election in 2027. Apparently, he wants to eliminate any potential challengers to his power beforehand.
The message to the military and the party is clear: fear replaces trust, trust in the party, trust in the rules of the system. The predictability that long promised stability is gone. Even loyalty to Xi Jinping no longer offers protection. Competence, experience, and personal networks have become risks. Xi is relying on young cadres who owe their careers to him alone and therefore remain politically dependent and invulnerable.
Xi is getting older and more vulnerable
Xi's approach can also be interpreted as an attempt to truly fight corruption, dismantle entrenched structures, and provide new leaders with opportunities for advancement. However, Xi's goal is not systematic reform based on transparent criteria, but rather a demonstration of power.
Xi Jinping is achieving his goal with the purges: he is removing potential threats to his rule. But at the same time, he is weakening the military and undermining trust in the party. Fear and uncertainty mean that if any official dares to report facts that do not fit the expected agenda, they will be punished. The risk of poor decisions increases, as does the risk of a slow response to crises, because responsibility is being delegated upwards.
In 2027, when Xi Jinping is expected to seek another five-year term, he will be 74 years old. Historical experience teaches us that regimes become more unstable as the dictator ages. Appointing a successor would prematurely undermine Xi Jinping’s power. Not appointing a successor increases the likelihood of power struggles. To win these, he must continue to instill fear in his people. /Adapted from NZZ /
Lini një Përgjigje