China replaces rocket force generals in surprise military shake-up

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Rocket Force, in a surprise shake-up that has raised doubts about the inner workings of the military unit in charge of the country's strong arsenal of nuclear and ballistic missiles, CNN reported. State media on Monday reported that, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has named Wang Houbin as commander of the Rocket Force and Xu Xisheng as political commissar of the force.

The Chinese state media has not mentioned any information about the previous chief Li Yuchao, a veteran of the force who had only served as commander since the beginning of 2022, a fairly short tenure, and prior commissar Xu Zhongbo, as per CNN. Experts say it is rare to replace two top individuals in the Rocket Force in one sweep with military personalities from outside the branch, as Wang comes from the navy and Xu Xisheng from the air force.

It also comes just a week after China's previous foreign minister, Qin Gang, was abruptly and dramatically removed from his post without explanation. The Rocket Force reshuffle comes after several weeks of rumours that a leadership change was in the works due to Li's absence from public view, which has now been exacerbated by a lack of confirmation about his present status inside China's opaque political structure.

While it is unknown what prompted the changes or whether Li or Xu were reassigned to different roles, observers think the shuffle indicates potential worries about Xi's leadership. It also comes at a critical juncture for the Rocket Force, which oversees China's missile programmes, ranging from nuclear-tipped weapons to the shorter-range missiles used in China's recent intimidation of self-governing Taiwan, which China's ruling Communist Party claims as its own and has not ruled out forceful annexation.