Top PLA general calls on military to resolutely obey Xi Jinping’s command

President Xi Jinping on Saturday met a largely condensed delegation of military officials at the annual parliament session after a major purge of the top brass of the PLA, while a top general called on the defence personnel to resolutely obey the Chinese leader’s command.

President Xi attended a plenary meeting of the delegation of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the People’s Armed Police Force at the fourth session of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s national legislature, currently holding its annual session. This is Xi’s first meeting after the removal of two senior Chinese military officials, including the highest-ranking PLA official, Gen Zhang Youxia, in January, regarded as a major purge of the PLA in recent history, sending shock waves among the rank and file.

Zhang Youxia was the Vice Chairman of the all-powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), headed by Xi himself. After his removal, the six-member CMC, which is the overall high command of the Chinese military, has been reduced to two – Xi and Gen Zhang Shengmin, secretary of the discipline inspection body.

Significantly, Zhang Shengmin, the last standing General of the six-member CMC, in his speech at the current parliament session, called on the military to resolutely obey the command of Xi. “We must deepen political rectification, improve Communist Party conduct, fight corruption, and strengthen loyalty to the party’s core and resolute obedience to the command of President Xi Jinping.” Zhang also called for more efforts to improve combat-oriented training and preparedness to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests.  “It is also necessary to push for high-quality development, step up building integrated combat capabilities, strengthen the development and application of combat capabilities in new domains and of new qualities, and enhance military governance,” Zhang was quoted as saying by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post on Saturday.

Significantly, no military officials from the Politburo of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) attended the current two sessions of the NPC and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which began from March 4.

According to the official website of the NPC, the military delegation attending the two sessions has been condensed from 281 to 243 members, reflecting the series of expulsions of the PLA officials in the last few years for corruption and indiscipline.

Besides corruption, the main allegation against the sacked military officials was indiscipline and disobedience of the CPC leadership.

Since he came to power in 2012, Xi has been insisting that the military should function under the leadership of the CPC. Critics say that through the anti-corruption movement, he consolidated his power, emerging as the “core” leader of the party, next only to the party founder Mao Zedong.

Purges notwithstanding, China on Thursday hiked its defence budget to about 1.91 trillion yuan ($277 billion), an increase of seven per cent from last year in yuan terms, as part of its efforts to ramp up rapid modernisation of armed forces to catch up with the US military. China, which in the past grew at double digits, has been setting a five percent target for the GDP in the last three years amid growing domestic and external economic challenges.