China’s defense ministry is investigating Admiral Miao Hua for "serious violations of discipline," following allegations that defense minister Dong Jun is himself under investigation. To learn more, TaiwanPlus speaks with Ping-Kuei Chen, professor of diplomacy at National Chengchi University in Taipei.
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00:00What's the significance of this new investigation China's defense ministry has announced against
00:05Admiral Miao Hua?
00:07As far as we know, he was investigated due to a violation of disciplines.
00:14We don't know what disciplines are, what those disciplines are, but the significance is that
00:19he is one of the members of CNC, the Central Military Commission.
00:24And without him, the Central Military Commission will have one member less.
00:29So you have five members right now, it's supposed to be six, seven members, right?
00:34So there are fewer and fewer high level senior generals in CNC, which is, which shows something
00:43about POA right now.
00:45The Financial Times recently reported that China's defense minister Dong Jun was also
00:50under investigation.
00:52What differences are there between Dong's and Miao's cases, if any?
00:56I think Dong Jun is not involved.
01:00I think Dong Jun is not a target of the investigation.
01:04He is there to assist the investigation.
01:07As far as we know that many high level generals and military officers also assisted investigation.
01:14So what it means is that it might confirm the other sources that we have claiming that
01:21the Miao's investigation was due to his political ambitions, which means he is trying to group
01:29and elite or trying to make a factions within the CCP.
01:34That might be the real reason why he was investigated.
01:37He was trying to challenge the authority of Xi Jinping, or he might be a threat to Xi
01:44Jinping's authority.
01:47If we follow this trend of thought, you might understand why the defense minister was involved,
01:55because this will require the defense minister Dong Jun to confirm that Miao Hua is guilty
02:03of charges.
02:04What do these cases mean about Xi Jinping's control of the country's military?
02:09Xi Jinping still have very good control over the military.
02:12Otherwise, he would not purge Miao Hua so easily.
02:17The scale of this incident is broad, which means Xi Jinping is making examples for other
02:22people who may want to create their own political faction.
02:27As for corruption, I think corruption might be a widespread problem within the POA.
02:34So it makes it a very good excuse to purge anyone that defies Xi Jinping.
02:41So you can say corruption or anti-corruption campaign is just an excuse.