The top two officers with the People's Armed Police (PAP), along with four senior political commissars of the People's Liberation Army, were promoted yesterday to the highest possible ranks they can obtain.
President Hu Jintao, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission, conferred the promotion of Lieutenant General Wang Jianping, 59, commander of the PAP, and Lieutenant General Xu Yaoyuan, 60, political commissar of the PAP, to the rank of general.
The four PLA officers named full generals were Lieutenant General Liu Yazhou, 60, the political commissar of the National Defence University; Lieutenant General Du Jincai, 60, deputy head of the PLA's General Political Department; Lieutenant General Tian Xiusi, 62, political commissar of the Chengdu Military Command; and Lieutenant General Du Hengyan, 61, political commissar of the Jinan Military Command.
An order for the promotions was announced by the CMC vice-chairman, Xi Jinping, Xinhua reported.
Lieutenant General Liu Fulian, 60, political commissar of the Beijing Military Command, failed to be promoted, although he had long been tipped to be among those elevated.
Liu Fulian's exclusion from the list came as a surprise to many military watchers, after he took up the position of political commissar of the Beijing Military Command in December 2009, following his promotion to lieutenant general a year earlier, at the same time as Du Jincai.
Conventionally speaking, one should be a lieutenant general for at least four years and hold office in a position equivalent to commander or political commissar of a regional military command for no less than two years, before being shortlisted for promotion to full general.