A promotion ceremony for generals of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was held by the Chinese Central Military Commission (CMC) at the August 1st Building (Headquarters of the CMC) in Beijing on June 28th, 2023. Xi Jinping presented certificates of order and congratulated Zheng Xuan, political commissar of the Northern Theater Command and Ling Huanxin, political commissar of the Academy of Military Sciences. However, related reports did not mention any new appointment for Liu Qingsong, former political commissar of the Northern Theater Command. Xi inspected the headquarters of the Eastern Theater Command and delivered a speech on July 6th. A group picture taken after Xi’s speech showed that Xi sat in the middle, to his left sat Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the CMC and Liu Qingsong and to Xi’s right sat Lin Xiangyang, commander of the Eastern Theater Command and Zhong Shaojun, director of the General Office of the CMC.
He Ping, former political commissar of the Eastern Theater Command, did not attend the event. He may have retired and was reappointed as deputy chairperson of the Constitution and Law Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress. From the fact that Liu Qingsong wore the badge of the Eastern Theater Command and attended related activities, he must have been transferred to the position of political commissar of the Eastern Theater Command. Apart from Wang Jianwu, political commissar of the Southern Theater Command, and Li Fengbiao, political commissar of the Western Theater Command, all commanders and political commissars of the PLA’s five theater commands are generals born after 1960, indicating that Xi has basically completed generational succession in the PLA and revealing a trend of younger active-duty generals. Consequently, generals born after 1960 will guide China's military modernization in the next decade and the PLA’s capacity building for conducting integrated joint operations.
Admiral Liu Qingsong was transferred from the political commissar of the Northern Theater Command to the same position in the East Theater Command. He is also the first non-army leader in the Eastern Theater Command since its establishment. Liu began his military career in the Air Force and worked in the Air Force for a long period of time. He served as the deputy director of the Guangzhou Military Region Air Force Command's Political Department and political commissar of the Air Force Wuhan Command Post (He was promoted to the rank of major general in July 2014). He was appointed to be the director of the Political Department of the Northern Theater Command in 2015 and deputy director of the Political Department of the Air Force in 2017. He was promoted to become the deputy political commissar of the Eastern Theater Command and political commissar of the Eastern Theater Command Navy in 2018 (He was promoted to the rank of vice admiral in June 2019). Liu has been transferred from the Air Force to the Navy and has working experience in various theater commands, highlighting that he is a diversified officer cultivated by the PLA.
Xi Jinping inspected the Southern Theater Command Navy on April 11th. He stated that the PLA must think and address military issues from a political perspective, firmly and flexibly launch military struggles, enhance the ability to timely and appropriately respond to complicated situations, unwaveringly safeguard China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests as well as strive to maintain stability in China’s surrounding areas. When Xi inspected the headquarters of the Eastern Theater Command on July 6th, he highly praised the command’s important contributions to defending China’s territorial sovereignty, maritime rights and interests and national unity since its founding. Xi also emphasized that commanders and troops must always bear in mind their missions and tasks, adhere to problem-centered thinking, strengthen awareness of potential risks and fully meet their responsibilities of enhancing combat readiness. The command must deepen operational planning, strengthen joint operations command system, conduct more realistic military training and enhance the ability to win wars. The command must think and address military issues from a political perspective, dare to fight and be good at fighting, resolutely safeguard China’s sovereignty, security and development interests and strengthen party building in all respects
Xi successively inspected the headquarters of the Eastern Theater Command and Southern Theater Command Navy within three months. The inspection tours showed his concerns and anxiety about developments in the southeastern region, the frontline area for fighting the enemy. Therefore, it was emphasized in both of his speeches that the PLA must unwaveringly safeguard China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, strive to maintain stability in China’s surrounding areas as well as dare to fight and be good at fighting.
Liu is now transferred to the position of political commissar of the Eastern Theater Command and works with Lin Xiangyang, commander of the theater command. They have a long military career in the Eastern and Southern Theater Commands and are familiar with changing situations in the Taiwan Strait, the East China Sea and the South China Sea. Military deterrence against Taiwan will resemble more closely to real combats in the future following Xi’s order to intensify troop training and enhance combat preparedness across the board. Liu and Lin will work together to lead the Eastern Theater Command’s preparations for military struggles against Taiwan. Liu’s transfer does not aim at attacking Taiwan. In Xi’s two speeches, he asked the Eastern Theater Command to unwaveringly safeguard China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, strive to maintain stability in China’s surrounding areas as well as dare to fight and be good at fighting. This is to maintain “fighting without breaking” as “stability overrides everything.” In other words, Xi asked Lin Xiangyang and Liu Qingsong, commander and political commissar of the Eastern Theater Command, to dare to fight and be good at fighting while they are facing changes in China’s surrounding areas. And they must use military struggles to maintain stability and prevent chaos in the Taiwan Strait and the East China Sea. Stability is Xi’s intention when he transferred Liu to the position of political commissar of the Eastern Theater Command.
(Tai-yuan Yang, Contract Research Fellow of the Institute of Chinese Communist Studies)
(Translated to English by Cindy Li)
