PLA reshuffle strengthens Xi Jinping's hand in corruption fight
Two key 'princelings' are set for promotion as president targets corruption and aims to turn world's largest army into a battle-ready force
President Xi Jinping will promote two People's Liberation Army generals closely associated with him in a move to deepen the anti-corruption drive and speed up reform in the world's largest fighting force.
The generals have yet to be named, but sources said Liu Yuan, the political commissar of the PLA general logistics department, and Zhang Youxia, head of the general armaments department, both stood a good chance. At least one of them will be named vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, which exercises command and control of the PLA, at a key Communist Party meeting next month, various sources said.
Three sources said that Liu may be tasked with heading the military's discipline commission.
Eventually both may join Xi, who is also the chairman of the CMC, to form a core leadership of the highest military command.
The CMC at present is led by Xi and two vice-chairmen - General Fan Changlong and General Xu Qiliang. Both were appointed in 2012. During the era of Jiang Zemin, the CMC had two to four career servicemen as vice-chairmen.
Both Liu and Zhang are so-called princelings - descendants of veteran Communist Party leaders and close associates of Xi. The proposal to promote them had been discussed several times at the PLA-run Jingxi Hotel in Beijing, the sources said.