POLITICAL intrigue within the PLA has intensified as disgraced military strongman General Yang Baibing has appealed to the leadership to clear his name.
Sources in the People's Liberation Army said yesterday General Yang, who lost all his military positions in late 1992, had earlier this year written to patriarch Deng Xiaoping and others to restore his reputation.
In the appeal, General Yang, a half-brother of former state president Yang Shangkun, said he had been the victim of a vendetta.
The former chief army political commissar, who remains a member of the ruling Politburo, said he wanted punishment for his accusers, who reportedly include vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), General Zhang Zhen.
The sources said that in October 1992, Mr Deng decided to dump General Yang partly because he believed he conspired to undermine the authority of himself and President Jiang Zemin, also CMC chairman.
'Yang Baibing was said to be guilty of 10 offences, which included forming his own clique and holding a series of 'black meetings' to make preparations for the post-Deng era,' a source said.