Xi Jinping’s military purge could disrupt China-US competition

• Xi Jinping is expelling military officers from their positions.
• The Chinese president dismissed nine senior officials from their posts last Friday.
• But Xi’s anti-corruption campaign could disrupt China’s race to catch up with the U.S. military.

Analysts say Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent purge of military commanders has weakened China’s military and exposed internal corruption. told Reuters.

During his time in office, Mr. Xi has stepped up anti-corruption efforts across the Chinese government and People’s Liberation Army (PLA), according to Reuters.

The situation reached its climax last Friday, when the president removed nine senior military officials from their positions.

According to Reuters, these include three former commanders or deputy commanders of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, which is in charge of China’s nuclear missiles, a naval commander with jurisdiction over the South China Sea, a former air force commander, and four equipment officers. The name was included. .

“This is a clear sign that they are being purged,” Andrew Scovell, a special China fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace, told Reuters.

Alfred Wu, associate professor at Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said more purges were likely in the future.

“Many more heads will fall. The purge centered on the Rocket Army is not over yet,” he said, according to Reuters.

The Chinese government has not said why the generals were fired, but some analysts have blamed corruption within the Rocket Force over how equipment was acquired.

Yun Sun, head of the China program at the Stimson Center think tank, and others said the purge had weakened China’s military.

And that could disrupt China’s race to catch up with U.S. military power.

In recent years, China has built the world’s largest navy and plans to build a series of overseas military bases in an effort to close the gap with the United States.

However, for now, China remains at a significant tactical disadvantage compared to the United States.

In a recent interview on The Michael Medved Show, retired US Navy Admiral James Stavridis said China is not ready to fight the US for the next 10 years.

Despite China’s vast navy and shipbuilding capabilities, the U.S. military will prevail thanks to its military alliance, Stavridis said.

“If we go to war with China, it won’t just be the United States and China,” he said.

Relations between the two countries deteriorated last year, with tense military clashes in the South China Sea and the US military shooting down a Chinese surveillance balloon over the US mainland.