From The Telegraph
Be careful with such interpretations, warned Mr Czin, who is now a senior fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institute think tank.
“I think [the purges] shows not that Xi’s is distracted from operational issues, but that he’s laser-focused on them,” he said.
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But he is “serious about wanting to have options,” said Mr Czin. “He wants the military to be up to snuff and prepared, and he’s willing to be so unforgiving of the PLA because he’s so focused on the underlying objectives.”
Christopher K Johnson, another ex-CIA China analyst, echoed Mr Czin, saying that the idea put forward by some that the PLA blood-letting is solely intended to shore up Mr Xi’s position is wide of the mark.
“I think it’s more a manifestation of his impatience with his generals, that they are not getting it done in a timely manner,” he said.
“I’m not saying he’s in a hurry, but he’s getting older and might be facing some whispers it’s time to think about stepping down.
“What better way to show, ‘don’t f--- with me’, than to take down the entire high command?”
Mr Xi’s twin campaign of corruption purges and vast military spending has transformed the PLA into a force unrecognisable from the one he inherited.
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In 2015, the president cut the size of the army by 300,000 troops. Command structures were reorganised to prevent the formation of graft-prone cliques.
At the same time, the taps were opened on a spending programme that has by now delivered China the world’s largest navy, second-largest combat air force and a missile arsenal that is rapidly catching up with – and, in some areas, outmatching – that of the United States.
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“The corruption is real, it’s been pervasive,” said Mr Czin. “But the military modernisation is incredibly impressive. It’s a big enough and well-resourced enough effort that there’s enough space for both of these things to coexist side by side.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/02/01/xis-corruption-purge-to-make-army-ready-to-invade-taiwan/
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