China named navy veteran Dong Jun as its new defense minister, a move that will help resume top-level military talks with the US that are seen as crucial to steadying ties between the nuclear-armed powers. <\/p>\n
Dong\u2019s appointment was announced by the country\u2019s top legislator on Friday, ending weeks of speculation over who would occupy the role Li Shangfu was ousted from in October, without explanation. China\u2019s new defense minister is the first to come from a naval background.<\/p>\n
That departure from precedent comes as China\u2019s military has been rocked by a volley of unexplained personnel purges this year. Two top leaders were abruptly removed this summer from the secretive rocket force, from which the nation\u2019s defense ministers have previously been picked. <\/p>\n
Three senior executives at Chinese defense suppliers that manufacture missiles were exiled from a top Communist Party advisory body this week, with no details provided. The purges continued Friday, as China ousted nine military deputies from the legislature, including former ex-Air Force Commander Ding Laihang \u2014 the first time that area of the military had been implicated in the shake-ups. <\/p>\n
Dong\u2019s promotion suggested purges were ongoing in the rocket force, as well as the military procurement department that Li used to run, and which is under investigation, according to Wen-Ti Sung, a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council\u2019s Global China Hub.<\/p>\n
It was also \u201ca sign of China designating the South China Sea as a new priority area of geopolitical contestation between China and the U.S.,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Dong\u2019s appointment will help smooth the path for the resumption of top-level military talks between Beijing and Washington, which were suspended after then U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022. <\/p>\n
A Pentagon spokesman on Friday said the U.S. is communicating with China at the working level about \u201ca sequence\u201d of upcoming engagements, including a resumption of defense policy coordination talks in January and maritime consultations in early 2024.<\/p>\n
Former defense minister Li had been unable to meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, because he was subject to US sanctions. President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden pledged to resume high-level military talks during their meeting in California last month. <\/p>\n
Unlike China\u2019s recent top military diplomats, Dong doesn\u2019t yet sit on the Central Military Commission, meaning Xi skipped members of the nation\u2019s top military body to promote him. General Liu Zhenli, chief of the commission\u2019s joint staff department, for example, was touted as a top contender.<\/p>\n
Dong does, however, have extensive experience in China\u2019s navy, which has been projecting its force in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait this year, attracting criticism from the US. He has also worked in the Taiwan Strait, one of the biggest flashpoints in Beijing\u2019s fragile relationship with the Washington.<\/p>\n
He was appointed head of the world\u2019s largest navy by number of vessels in 2021, a role now occupied by General Hu Zhongming, state media revealed earlier this week. <\/p>\n
The new defense minister was also previously a deputy commander of the Southern Military Command, which looks after the South China Sea, where China has territorial disputes with neighboring nations including the Philippines and Vietnam. The US conducts freedom of navigation operations in those waters, frustrating Beijing.<\/p>\n
Dong was also a deputy commander of Eastern Military Command\u2019s navy force. The fleet is in charge of the East China Sea, including the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own. The force conducted drills around the island after Pelosi\u2019s visit last year.<\/p>\n
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(With assistance from Lucille Liu and Courtney McBride.)<\/p>\n
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