Disappearance of He Weidong Reveals Powerplay in China
General He Weidong is on the left, Zhang Youxia is in the center and Xi Jinping in the lead (Image credit Neil Thomas LinkedIn)
Xi Jinping Bracing for Political Overhaul of CCP in 2027?
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, April 15, 2025: Widely speculated disappearance of No. 2 in Chinese Military Council General He Weidong is fast gaining global attention for power play within China. The Chinese General has not been seen for weeks to draw parallel with several disappearances in China of military heavyweights.
Neil Thomas, a fellow at US-based Asia Society, claimed that Xi is gearing for a major overhaul of the political council in 2027. Thomas was making a sense of the disappearance of He in a post on LinkedIn.
“All Xi’s problems with personnel appointments — think Li Shangfu, Miao Hua, Qin Gang, plus dozens of other central cadres — could also explain why he decided to replace Li Ganjie with Shi Taifeng as personnel chief ahead of the next big leadership turnover at the 21st Party Congress in 2027,” Thomas speculated.
He also quipped that the ongoing powerplay “could be advantageous to cadres whom Xi knows from his past roles at the Central Party School and in Jiangsu, Ningxia, and Inner Mongolia”.
But Piero Tozzi, another China observer, commented, questioning the control of Xi in the military council. “The interesting question is how much Xi is really in control. I’m inclined toward the view that Xi is squaring away against Zhang Youxia, who is forcing the counter purging of Xi’s people, such as Miao Hua,” Tozzi stated.
Thomas mentioned that Zhang, the senior Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission and the other PLA general on the Politburo, were present at an annual tree-planting ceremony. The Financial Times broke the news that General He was not sighted at the significant tree-plantation ceremony.
“Is He one of Xi’s people, and has he been purged? He had been considered a Xi man, though one might say Zhang was as well, once upon a time,” Tozzi quipped.
General He was also missing from Xi’s presiding over a conference on diplomacy with ‘neighbourhood countries’ which was attended by the whole Politburo. The conference was in response to the imposition of tariffs by the US. The conference came out with a declaration for “shared future” with neighbours. But General He was missing from the crucial conference, which preceded Xi’s Vietnam visit.
“General He could be sick or he could have other work, but the situation does not look good. If He is in trouble, then I believe he would be the first uniformed CMC Vice Chair to be removed for political reasons since He Long in 1967,” added Thomas.
He gave a background of past purges in China — Zhao Ziyang was removed in 1989 but was a civilian leader; Ye Jianying agreed to step down in 1985 due to his declining health; Hua Guofeng was replaced by Deng Xiaoping as CMC Chair in 1981 but they were also both civilian leaders; Deng was purged in 1976 before Mao died but was a civilian leader then too; Chen Yi died in office in 1972; and Lin Biao died in office in 1971.
Thomas wondered if Xi is really in control to launch a big military action. He added that such a military action in the current third term of Xi is unlikely.
“Xi’s evident problems with corruption and discipline in the highest ranks of the PLA is not meaningfully slowing China’s military modernization. But it raises more questions about whether Xi would have the political confidence to actually unleash the military,” he added.
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