The shadow of Peng Liyuan, Xi Jinping's wife, in the appointments to lead the Chinese army after the purges of generals

What is happening at the top of the Chinese People's Liberation Army? The facts are there: the two former defense ministers Wei Fenghe (in office from 2018 to 2023) and Li Shangfu (in office for less than six months in 2023) have been removed from their posts and handed over to military justice. Last year, in addition to the two general ministers, nine other generals fell under the Party's sickle, including the commander and deputy of the missile forces. And there is the declaration of The Central Military Commission chaired by Xi Jinping announced on Wednesday, July 10, a campaign to rectify thinking, organization, work style, discipline and the appointment system.

If all these aspects of the Chinese officer corps are to be radically corrected, it means that The Communist Party (which according to Mao's command commands the gun) has a big problem.

It's not just there Corruptionendemic in all sectors of the mandarin bureaucracy despite Xi's battle to eradicate it. The statement that, on June 27, after more than a year of official silence, put a dishonorable end to the career of General Wei Fenghe, contains an obscure phrase: guilty of zhongcheng shi jie, a phrase that dates back to the time of the ancient imperial dynasties. and I have condemned myself disloyal mandarins who have lost their purity. Beijing experts on Communist Party history note that the phrase has been used in the past as a euphemism to stigmatize the Chinese Communist Party. traitors compromised with hostile forces.

There was certainly disloyalty to Xi: because it was the president who promoted the two generals to the rank of defense ministers. And all Third Plenum of the Party Central Committee opens Monday, July 15 in Beijing The Communist General Secretary might feel some embarrassment in front of his comrades for having chosen two bad men. One wonders who the Supreme Commander of the People's Republic can really trust.

And they are behind the facts (the dishonorable torpedoes) and the announcement of the rectification campaign voices. One is about Peng Liyuan, Xi's wife.
According to a pro-government Hong Kong newspaper, Ms Peng was included in the Cadre Review and Evaluation Committee, a previously unknown body that would advise the Central Military Commission.

The news of Chant Tao everyday has not been denied and After the crackdown in the former British colony, the alleged or real context of Chinese power is not published lightly, not even in Hong Kong. An apparently recent photo of Peng in military uniform, apparently inspecting a military academy, has also been circulating on Chinese social media.

The first lady, 61, officially holds the rank of major general., after a brilliant career as a singer in the famous artistic section of the People's Liberation Army started in the early 80s.

At the time, she was the star of the couple with Xi: always in the foreground at the Lunar New Year gala broadcast on state television. A huge popular success. And she is said to have brought her husband, who was a senior provincial official, into the circle of President Jiang Zemin's protégés.

After becoming commander of the army's song and dance troupe and then director of the Military Academy of Arts, with the rank of major general, Since 2012, when Xi ascended to China's top echelon, Peng has stopped singing.abandoned stage clothes and the uniform of the ranks for elegant bourgeois costumes of autarkic haute couture and realized his First Lady Dutiesbecoming also UNESCO ambassador for the promotion of women's education worldwide. Unusual visibility for the wives of leaders of the People's Republic.

For his public appearances alongside the president at state events, Peng has recently received praise from the Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who in May stressed his diplomatic role during Xi's European tour (France, Serbia and Hungary). The agency Xinhua He wrote that the presence of the lady on this trip was one of the highlights of the development of Chinese soft power on the international level. The state agency defined it in the note teachertitle given to the great figures of music.

But if we are to believe the Hong Kong newspaper, taken up by the influential Japanese newspaper NikkeiPeng Liyuan still wears the uniform of a major general in the Military Executive Review Board and has a say in the selection process for senior military ranks. A role as advisor which refers to her knowledge of the hierarchy acquired during her career as a singer and then as director of the artistic section of the Army.

Is Xi really so concerned about choosing his generals that he involved his wife in the selection process? Nikkei Observe this Dong Jun, the new Minister of Defense appointed several months after the torpedoing of the two corrupt Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu could have a link with Peng Liyuan. Admiral Dong and Peng are the same age and are from Shandong province. A very thin thread, but which, given the opacity of the Chinese system, is enough to arouse speculation.