Chinese Officials Being Sacked as CCP Leader Tries to Ensure Control of Military

hinese media described the recent purge of former top general, Xu Caihou as an “earthquake” in the nation’s military. The shaking in the armed forces has likely not stopped, as signs point to another former top military official being targeted, as Party leader Xi Jinping seeks to assure his control.

In the current purge of the Chinese Communist Party by leader Xi Jinping, overseas media outlets—particularly those in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and dissident media—have often acted like a canary in the coalmine, quickly picking up on the signs that a new high-level official is going to be taken down.

This pattern has held since the Bo Xilai scandal in 2012, and was mostly recently manifest in the removal of former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) Xu Caihou, who observers say had to go, as a demonstration that Xi Jinping was taking charge from the old guard.

Now, the longtime colleague and confidant of Gen. Xu, Gen. Guo Boxiong, is also said to be headed for trouble.

Leaks and reports about Guo Boxiong, a former top military commander, and a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission from 2002 to 2012, have been rattling around the Chinese Internet for the last several months.

Boxun, an overseas Chinese website that regularly carries political news and rumor, reported in April that Guo had already been thrown in prison.

Duowei, an overseas Chinese outlet whose uncanniness in noting the shifts of political winds has led many to suspect that it is being used as a mouthpiece by the Xi Jinping regime, reported that Guo’s prospects were “not too encouraging,” and that his disciplinary problems were “equally as grave” as those of Xu Caihou.

Recent personnel changes at the top in Guo’s old stomping ground, the Lanzhou Military Region, where a potential Xi loyalist was made political commissar, have also suggested that the top Party leadership may have a plan for Guo—given that a similar personnel shift preceded the purge of Xu Caihou.

‘Pawns’

As vice chair of the CMC, Guo was the equal second military commander in China: both he and Xu Caihou sat under Hu Jintao, then-Party leader, as top officials of the armed forces.

Like Xu, Guo was brought into the CMC by outgoing Jiang Zemin, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party from 1989 to 2002, and commander of the military forces until 2004.

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