Military appointments show Hu Jintao’s influence will linger

Clearly signalling that competing interest groups in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s highest echelons have reached agreement on major personnel issues, some key appointments to top military posts were announced on October 25, 2012. These precede the opening in Beijing of the 18th Party Congress on November 8, thereby additionally conveying that the matter relating to ousted Politburo member and ‘princeling’, Bo Xilai, has basically been settled.

The announcement also implies that ongoing investigations of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) personnel is complete. Earlier this August, while releasing the list of 251 PLA Delegates to the 18th Party Congress, it was stated that all delegates had a blemish-free political record. That hinted that while those closely associated with Bo Xilai, like Generals Liu Yuan and Zhang Haiyang, might not be promoted they would probably neither be punished. The failure to promote General Liu Yuan, who is the son of former Chinese President Liu Shaoqi and is close to Xi Jinping, is significant and indicates that lineage has failed to provide immunity.

The PLA has in recent years been trying to upgrade its doctrine, tactics and armaments as also indigenous research and development of weaponry. Integrated Joint Operations (IJO) and transportation of armed and fully equipped troops across long distances has been emphasised. There has been repeated mention of the need to prepare for a short border war under ‘conditions of informatisation’ using overwhelming firepower. The recent appointments reveal that China’s new military leadership will focus on both these crucial areas. Similarly, the South China Sea will remain an area of active concern where China will continue efforts to establish its dominance.

General Fang Fenghui, who was born in 1951, has been appointed Director of the PLA’s General Staff Department (GSD), a post loosely equated with that of Army Chief. He is reputed to be a technocrat with command experience including in the digitalized battlefield. More importantly, when Fang Fenghui was appointed Military Region Commander in 2007, he was the youngest officer in the PLA to hold that rank. In a sign of the trust that Hu Jintao reposed in him, Fang Fenghui was the beneficiary of a double promotion when he was appointed Commander of the sensitive Beijing Military Region.

The appointment of General Zhang Youxia as Director of the General Armaments Department (GAD), is another that points to an officer’s professional background being a factor in his selection for higher office. Long a proponent of modernisation of the PLA’s weaponry, Zhang Youxia has now been empowered to implement suitable policies. In 2009, General Zhang Youxia was quoted in the Party newsaper People’s Daily as saying: “The fires of war are burning throughout the world. In this area the gap between the Chinese military and foreign militaries is growing day by day. This is a real problem.”

As GAD Director, General Zhang Youxia will now supervise overseas procurement and armaments research. He is also now the only officer in the Central Military Commission with combat experience. He was wounded in the Sino-Vietnam war in 1979. General Zhang Youxia is the son of General Zhang Zongxun, regarded as one of the ‘Ten Anti-Japan Generals’ of the CCP and a ‘princeling’. He is loyal to Hu Jintao, but also close to Xi Jinping.
The other new appointee who received the benefit of a double promotion is General Zhao Keshi, the new Director of the General Logistics Department (GLD). Zhao Keshi was also only a Chief of Staff when he was picked by Hu Jintao and appointed Commander of the Nanjing Military Region.

Zhao Yang, the new Director of the powerful General Political Department (GPD) is the dark horse candidate apparently appointed at Hu Jintao’s behest. He was Political Commissar of the Guangzhou Military Region. Predictable was the direct elevation of 1955-born General Wei Fenghe as Commander of the Second Artillery, or China’s strategic missile force. All of them will be members of the Central Military Commission.

That the South China Sea will be an area of active interest for the new military leadership is clear from the pronouncements of at least two of the recently appointed top officials. General Zhang Youxia, in the initial stages itself adopted a tough line against the Philippines in the dispute over Scarborough Reef. Similarly, the new PLA Air Force (PLAAF) Commander and former fighter pilot General Ma Xiaotian, who has a reputation for being outspoken, has made unequivocal pronouncements on the subject.

During an interview with a Hong Kong TV station in May 2012, Ma Xiaotian said that the South China Sea where China has territorial claims was “none of the United States’ business’. Interestingly both, Zhang Youxia and Ma Xiaotian, are ‘princelings’.

Finally, these appointments bear Hu Jintao’s strong imprimatur indicating that his position is adequately strong and his influence will linger.

The author is a former additional secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India