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A “New Normal” in Communist China’s Military Leadership Reshuffles: An Interpretation of the New Line-up of Central Military Commission Following the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China

Following the widely observed 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in the fall of 2022, observers brought to public attention the replacement of quite a few previously hopeful candidates for top positions in the CPC with ones that were not comparable in seniority and age but had all been colleagues of Xi Jinping before Xi became the top leader of China. Such an unexpected precedent-breaking arrangement was also seen in the selection of members of the new Central Military Commission (CMC). China still advocates the decades-old tenet that the Party commands the gun yet without forgetting at the same time the equally long-lasting principle that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. Therefore, control over the military is essential to the consolidation of political power. That is where the pivotal role of the CMC comes into play. What are the strategic implications of the new line-up of the CMC after the 20th CPC National Congress? To the surprise of quite a few observers, Zhang Youxia retained his position as one of the two vice chairmen of the commission. The other vice chairman is He Weidong, a new addition to the CMC. The other two new members of the seven-person CMC, including President Xi, who serves concurrently as chairman of the commission, are Liu Zhenli, who is the Chief of the CMC Joint Staff Department, and Li Shangfu, the new defense minister. The other two members, including Miao Hua and Zhang Shengmin, have been on the commission since the 19th CPC National Congress. What are the considerations behind the reshuffle in China’s top military decision-making and command body? All these questions are to be dealt with in this paper. The generals and admirals mentioned above shall be the subjects of analysis. Their backgrounds and specialties may be the reason why they were chosen for their positions.