Speculation is rife over whether Peng Liyuan is helping Xi control China’s military.
As Chinese supreme leader Xi Jinping deals with “complicated challenges” that his top military brass is presenting him, he is likely leaning more on a longtime aide, his wife, Peng Liyuan.
Two developments point to this. The first starts with the expulsion of two former defense ministers from the Chinese Communist Party and ends with the naming of a new defense chief.
The dismissals of Wei Fenghe and his successor Li Shangfu had long been anticipated; the two disappeared from the public eye last year.
When Xi, 71, China’s president and the party’s general secretary, assumed those posts 12 years ago, Wei, 70, became a member of the Central Military Commission, the top organ supervising the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Wei served two five-year terms. Li, 66, who succeeded Wei as defense minister in March 2023, was also a CMC member.
Wei’s and Li’s expulsions are merely the latest in a series of purges by Xi targeting the powerful military. But the two men fundamentally differ from the other military heavyweights who have fallen victim to Xi’s signature anti-corruption campaign: They were both tapped as defense ministers by Xi himself.
Xi’s simultaneous purges reflect his anxiety as he struggles to control the military after a decade of trying. Although he has significantly consolidated his power, he is still concerned about a lack of loyalty that the military shows him.
Xi in June noted that “China’s military is confronted with complicated challenges in the political work,” emphasizing the military’s “political loyalty.” He was speaking at the CMC Political Work Conference in Yan’an, an old revolutionary base in Shaanxi Province.
The second recent development pointing to Peng’s advisory role directly deals with Xi’s wife herself, a former star singer belonging to the military. She has been thrust into the spotlight and received more state-run media coverage.
