— The new PLA vice chairman, Zhang Weisheng, is the investigator behind the purge. He comes from the Second Artillery and is from Shaanxi, like President Xi Jinping. He is even closer to Xi than He Weidong, the purged vice chairman who met Xi during his time in Fujian. — No new PLA members have been promoted to the Central Committee. This indicates that the PLA has been demoted. The entire PLA seems to be under suspicion.
— The fate of Zhang Youxia, the first PLA vice chairman, remains uncertain. It’s difficult to oust him now because he is a Politburo member, making the process more complicated than removing Central Committee members. The Congress might be needed, but he has most likely been effectively moved aside.
The Taiwan agenda has been officially emphasized, but it’s unclear whether the PLA can be totally in charge of it after this reshuffling. The strategy may be to regain control of the island through alternatives to direct military action, possibly by winning a democratic election.
