Commander ‘s arrest, vice-commander’s suicide, etc. Verification of
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The rumors of a massive purge of the Chinese 먹튀검증rocket forces that heated up the Greater China region over the past month have turned out to be true. On July 31, the day before the National Day, a new rocket force commander and political commissar were appointed. Former commander Li Yuchao, who had been rumored to be arrested, was officially replaced.
On July 25, an obituary of the death of Deputy Commander Wu Guohua, who had been rumored to commit suicide, also came out. The date of death was July 4, and after 21 days, the official obituary of the military authorities came out.
Confirming the rumors in this way would mean that this situation is in the process of being put under control. However, the reason for this sudden purge is still unclear.
Confirmed Rumors, Truth Revealed
China began to confirm the incident by sending out the obituary of Deputy Commander Wu Guohua. Zhang Xiaoyang, former senior director of the People’s Liberation Army Foreign Language Institute, posted on social media after visiting condolences that he had hanged himself in the bathroom on the third floor.
The next day, on July 26, the ‘Announcement of Recruitment for Reports on Illegal Acts of National Equipment Purchase Bidding Review Specialists’ was posted on the Central Military Commission’s entire military arms and equipment purchase information network. It was a sneaky hint that this great purge was related to the corruption of the military.
On July 28, a more detailed inside story was released in Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post ( SCMP ). Citing sources, the SCMP reported, “The Central Military Commission’s Discipline Inspection Commission is investigating three people for corruption: Commander Li Yuchao, former deputy commander Zhang Zhenzhong (deputy chief of the Central Military Commission’s Combined Staff Department), and current deputy commander Liu Guangbin.”
The investigation is said to have started in March this year, right after the retirement of Defense Minister Wei Fenghe, who served as the first commander of the Rocket Force. It seems that Defense Minister Wei Fenghe was also involved in the incident. A source who requested anonymity said, “Rocket military senior generals had a good reputation before they were promoted, but after coming to the Beijing headquarters, they became corrupt as they contacted companies in the defense industry.” The background of this case is the problem of internal corruption in the military.
Investigation of 10 former and current commanders
Purge cases in China are usually packaged as corruption issues. So did Zhou Yongkang, a former Standing Committee member who was purged after Xi Jinping came to power, and Bo Xilai, a former Chongqing city secretary. In fact, the cause was an attempt to overthrow power by mobilizing armed police, but it was announced as a corruption issue in order not to reveal the conflict within the party to the outside.
Experts in the West or Greater China do not believe in this background explanation. Rather, it seems that there were other problems, such as leaking military secrets and weakening loyalty to the party. The Financial Times reported that “they are under investigation for leaking military secrets.”
The Rocket Army was originally the 2nd Artillery Unit, but was promoted to the fourth branch after the Army, Navy and Air Force in 2015 after President Xi came to power. It is a strategic missile force that operates nuclear missiles and advanced conventional missiles, and is the core force of the Chinese military.
It is said that this great purge included about 10 top commanders of the Rocket Force, including the first commander, third commander, political commissar, and deputy commander. It is a difficult explanation to understand that the investigation was carried out as if sweeping the former and current highest ranks of the Strategic Missile Forces because of a simple supply corruption problem.
Super-strong response to leaks of military secrets
Rather, it sounds persuasive to analyze that President Xi would have ordered a large-scale investigation when the secrets of the rocket army were leaked to the United States. As I mentioned in the last newsletter, the vast amount of ‘China Rocketry Report’ announced by the China Aerospace Institute ( CASI ) under the US Air Force University in October last year seems to have become a fuse.
The report contains detailed and comprehensive information such as the organization of the Rocket Force, the identities of commanders and senior officers, the location and coordinates of units at each level, and the types of missiles deployed. There is even information on the cooking class of the affiliated unit. It means that there was a hole in the Rocket Force that leaked information to the United States.
It is said that the leak of confidential documents from the US Department of Defense in April also shocked. Among the classified Pentagon documents leaked by a private in the National Guard , there was also information that the Chinese military successfully test-fired a new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile Dongfeng -27 ( DF-27 ) on February 25th. Detailed test data was available, including that the missile flew 2100 km in 12 minutes and reached an average speed of Mach 8.6.
Appointment of ‘yes man’ from Navy and Air Force
Unlike the Navy and Air Force, China’s rocket force is evaluated to be on par with the United States in terms of power. During the invasion of Taiwan, it is a vanguard force that will play a role in blocking the approach of the US carrier fleet by pouring missiles into the Taiwan Strait. It can be said that it is natural for the United States to collect intelligence on the composition and location of these units and the types of missiles they possess.
Many of the high-ranking generals of the Rocket Force are talented in science and technology that have nothing to do with politics. We know better than anyone that Mi-gyun will deliver a tweezers-type strike from the main base of the Rocket Force in the event of an invasion of Taiwan, and that he has enough ability to do so. As a result, there is an analysis that it was passive in preparing for the invasion of Taiwan, and this became the cause of the great purge.
President Xi appointed a new rocket force commander and political commissar from the Navy and Air Force. It means that you don’t believe in being from the Rocket Army. However, it is questionable whether those who are not familiar with satellites, rockets, and strategic missiles can properly command rocket forces.
As President Xi, it may be satisfactory to have a person who listens well, but there are many observations that the purge of veteran commanders will weaken the rocket force and hinder the Chinese military’s preparations for an invasion of Taiwan.