Big changes due at the top of the PLA after party congress

The senior ranks of the People's Liberation Army are due a major reshuffle at the top after the 18th Communist Party congress.

Among the likely changes, the head of the General Armaments Department, General Chang Wanquan, and the air force commander, Xu Qiliang, are the front runners to become the two officers serving as vice-chairmen of the PLA's top decision-making body, the Central Military Commission (CMC), and as members of the party's Politburo, though General Fan Changlong, the commander of the Nanjing military area command, could be a dark-horse challenger to Chang.

Seven of the 10 PLA officers on the CMC are too old to serve another term, leaving just Chang, 63, Xu, 62, and the navy commander, Admiral Wu Shengli, 67, who is a possible successor to Defence Minister General Liang Guanglie, provided he does not retire but remain a member of the CMC.

If Fan, who is not a member of the CMC, manages a "two-step" jump and becomes one of the CMC vice-chairmen, Chang will then most likely be the minister of defence but a mere member of the CMC.

Chang, who was secretary to General Han Xianchu, the commander of the Lanzhou military command between 1973 and 1980, has long been tipped to replace CMC vice-chairman General Guo Boxiong in the once-in-a-decade reshuffle after this year's party congress.

Both Guo and Chang, his protégé, have been considered heavyweights in the PLA's so-called " northwest army", with each having served in the Lanzhou military command for more than three decades.