""The PLA's core command has been mutilated by these purges," Dr. Zi Yang, an expert on China's military at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), told The Cipher Brief. As for the CMC, he said that "this organization...that is supposed to oversee quality military advice is more or less gutted. Who's giving Xi advice on running an organization of two million military personnel?""
"Imagine an American president firing all but one member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, along with several other high-ranking generals, while simultaneously preparing for a major military contingency, and you have some sense of what's happening in China."
""If Xi had plans for 2027, I think they're delayed," Wilder told The Cipher Brief, referring to Xi's directive that the military be prepared by 2027 to take taiwan by force. "I don't know for how long but they have to be delayed at this point. There's no way that they're ready to take on a major military confrontation in these circumstances.""
Xi Jinping has carried out sweeping purges of senior People's Liberation Army leaders, removing trusted generals and hollowing out the PLA's top command. The Central Military Commission's capacity to provide quality military advice has been severely weakened, creating uncertainty about who advises Xi on managing a force of roughly two million personnel. Observers compare the upheaval to an American president firing almost the entire Joint Chiefs while preparing for a major contingency. The removals of Generals Zhang and Liu are characterized as seismic political events that will hinder readiness and almost certainly delay any planned operations against Taiwan, including timelines toward 2027.
Read at The Cipher Brief
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