Xi Jinping promotes 3 generals with LAC experience to top PLA posts

The WTC is the largest military command under the PLA, and supervises the long and disputed border between India and China, stretching from Ladakh in the west to Arunachal Pradesh in the east

BEIJING: Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Sunday promoted three senior People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officers, including the current head of the Western Theatre Command (WTC) -- overseeing the disputed border with India --as the week-long national congress of the ruling party wrapped up.

Chinese President Xi Jinping waves after his speech as the new Politburo Standing Committee members meet the media following the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 23 (REUTERS)

The development followed Xi’s unprecedented, but expected, reappointment as the general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) for a third term, in a break from earlier norms which capped the tenure at two terms. It means that he will also head the Central Military Commission (CMC) for another five years.

Xi also promoted generals He Weidong, Wang Haijiang and Xu Qiling.

He, 65, who was been promoted to the post of vice-chairman of the CMC, served as the WTC army commander from July 2016 until December 2019. He was in-charge during the Doklam stand-off which took place between June and August, 2017.

Wang, the current head of the WTC, was named to the 205-member CPC Central Committee, one of the top decision-making bodies in the Communist Party hierarchy, while Xu, 60, who succeeded He as the WTC commander in 2020, was also promoted to the Central Committee.

Since 2019, He Weidong has been in-charge of the Eastern Theatre Command (ETC), which looks after military operations involving Taiwan. He is one of the two vice-chairmen of the CMC, the other being Zhang Youxia.

Four other members of the CMC are Li Shangfu, Liu Zhenli, Miao Hua, Zhang Shengmin.

He Weidong was promoted to the vice-chairmanship, without ever having previously served on the powerful CMC, indicating Xi’s trust in him.

Both He and Xu are military leaders with experience in eastern sector including Taiwan. He Weidong commands the PLA’s Eastern Theatre, which oversees operations involving Taiwan and Japan’s Nansei archipelago. He is believed to have taken part in the large-scale military exercise near Taiwan in early August which China launched following the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Xu also commanded the PLA ground forces in the Eastern Theatre.

All three senior officers have served in the WTC during a period of tension – some of the worst in recent decades – including the 2017 Doklam (Donglang in Chinese) crisis and the dragging Line of Actual Control (LAC) crisis in eastern Ladakh that began in April 2020.

Wang also headed the Tibet military district – which falls under the WTC -- when the Galwan Valley clash took place in June, 2020; Wang visited India in 2016 as part of military exchanges held in Pune.