Top Chinese General Goes Missing
He Weidong’s absence raises questions on Xi’s grip on military
The weeks-long absence of He Weidong, China’s third most powerful military leader, has sent the rumor mill into overdrive, raising questions over Chinese President Xi Jinping’s grip on the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), with alternate theories emerging over the general’s disappearance: Xi purged He or someone else purged He, a trusted Xi protégé, which if true indicates Xi’s position is vulnerable at a time when he is in the middle of a major trade war with Washington, DC that commands his close attention.
Generals He Weidong and Zhang Youxia are the vice-chairmen of the Central Military Commission which controls the PLA, while Xi is the commission’s chairman. Both generals are Xi’s acolytes and have known the Chinese leader for many years.
According to China’s Ministry of Defense website, the last reported meeting which He attended was on March 10. Zhang attended a tree-planting event in Beijing on April 2, but He was conspicuously absent, reported the ministry. As early as March 13, reports began to suggest that He had come under investigation, said a report of the Jamestown Foundation, a US think tank, on April 11…
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