Ruling Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping on Monday replaced the commander of the country's rocket corps -- which controls the country's nuclear missiles -- amid media reports of an investigation into his predecessor and his deputies.
At a ceremony held by the ruling party's Central Military Commission in Beijing on Monday, Xi named Wang Houbin as the new commander of the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force, promoting him and political commissar Xu Xisheng to the rank of general, state news agency Xinhua reported.
"The two officers promoted to the rank of general came to the rostrum full of energy," the report said.
"Xi Jinping issued orders to them and congratulated them. Wearing the epaulets of the rank of general, the two officers saluted Xi Jinping and all the comrades who participated in the ceremony, and the audience burst into enthusiastic applause," it said.
Wang's appointment, while not explained by state media reports, is widely seen as confirmation of reports that his predecessor Li Yuchao is under investigation behind the scenes.
"This is indirect proof that there was a [political] problem with the former leadership of the Rocket Force," U.S-based political commentator Hu Ping said via his X account on Monday.
"The fact that these two new appointments have no connection to the Rocket Force shows that Xi Jinping is uncomfortable with the entirety of the former Rocket Force team," Hu wrote.
Li was reportedly taken away for investigation in June, according to U.S.-based former PLA Navy Lt. Col. Yao Cheng, who posted the news on June 28 to X, formerly known as Twitter.
Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper then cited two sources on July 28 as saying Li Yuchao and his former deputies Zhang Zhenzhong and Liu Guangbin are currently under investigation by the commission's disciplinary arm, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
Corruption or loyalty?
The investigation began some time after March, when Wei Fenghe retired as defense minister, the paper cited one source as saying.
"Almost all the senior generals [in the rocket force] had good reputations before their promotion. They became immoral after moving to Beijing headquarters, allowing them to have more chances to engage with defense-related enterprises," the paper quoted one source as saying.
The rocket force is "an important element in Beijing’s efforts to ramp up the military pressure on Taiwan," the paper said, citing Middlebury Institute of International Studies researcher Decker Eveleth.
Yao Cheng told Radio Free Asia on July 28 that the investigation has little to do with corruption, however, and that Xi is investigating the Rocket Force to ensure it continues to carry out his orders faithfully.
"This isn't about Xi Jinping rectifying them [due to corruption]," said Yao, who formerly served in the PLA Naval Command. "Xi Jinping wants them to fight a war, and they didn't want to, so now he's coming for them."
"It's been the Rocket Force people who don't want to go along with Xi Jinping's plan," Yao said. "They don't want a war -- they fear war because they have a very clear idea of what their missile capabilities are."
"They know very well what the outcome would be of any surgical strike by U.S. forces," he said.
Yao said Xi is nonetheless determined to carry out a military invasion of democratic Taiwan, which has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party nor formed part of the 73-year-old People's Republic of China.
"He definitely wants to go to war," he said. "Otherwise, he can't realize [the goals of] his third term in office."
Readiness questions
Current affairs commentator Cai Shenkun said Xi's political attack on the Rocket Force raises questions about its readiness for military engagement.
"Xi Jinping's plan to forge a new Rocket Force is a major blow," he said. "There is a question mark over whether or not the Rocket Force is truly ready for war."
Meanwhile, China's internet censors have been deleting reports that Lt. Gen. Wu Guohua, a former deputy Rocket Force commander, died at the beginning of July.
Party-backed news site The Paper reported on July 27 that it had "learned from [his] relatives and friends that Lt. Gen. Wu Guohua, a former deputy commander in the rocket corps, died in Beijing on July 4, 2023 at the age of 66 due to medical issues."
The link to the story returned an error message when clicked on Monday, and the story had also been deleted from Sina.com's finance channel and Sohu.com, although cached versions of those syndicated stories were still available via Google.
An unconfirmed death notice also remained on the social media platform Sina Weibo on Monday.
"Comrade Wu Guohua, former deputy commander-in-chief of the Rocket Army, died in Beijing on July 4, 2023 due to illness at the age of 66," the notice said, adding that the funeral was scheduled for July 30 at Babaoshan Funeral Home.
However, Taiwan's Central News Agency and the Sing Tao Daily's U.S. edition both reported that Wu's death had been described as suicide by his former boss Zhang Xiaoyang.
Citing a now-deleted social media post by Zhang the reports said Wu had "hanged himself due to heavy work-related pressure and family conflict."
Translated with additional reporting by Luisetta Mudie .