New Delhi: China once again replaced the top military commanders who handled contested borders with India, in the third change in the last nine months amid the confrontation of sustainable forces in East Ladakh since last year, raising eyebrows in the establishment of the Indian defense.
President XI Jinping has promoted General Wang Haijiang as the new Head of West Theater Command (WTC), the largest of the five Chinese theater commands handling the entire line of 3,488 km from the actual control of the East Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh and overseving the Tibetan and Xinjiang regions.
Gen Wang (58) knew the WTC, after serving in the top PLA position in the Tibet-Xinjiang military area.
He has replaced Gen Xu Qiling (59), which is described as a “increased star” in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and has taken over as the head of the WTC only in July.
Gen Xu has replaced Gen Zhang Xudong (60), which in turn has become the head of the WTC in December last year after its old predecessor serving Gen Zhao Zongqi has retired at the age of 65 years.
“All of this is very unusual.
General PLA seniors, especially those who lead the WTC, does not change so fast or suddenly.
We monitor developments,” said an Indian senior official.
All such changes are usually covered in confidentiality in China, with the outside world rarely know the real reasons or implications.
“The elimination of the WTC head that came out suddenly in just about two months could be due to three reasons.
One, there was allegations of corruption on it.
Two, he did not store it well,” another official said.
“And three, he failed to perform well on the ground in accordance with the instructions issued by the central military commission led by Xi.
Demur to say what happened,” said another official.
But changes that often occur in the WTC leadership shows XI is not happy for the performance of PLA there.
Incidentally, XI has visited Tibet from July 21 to 23, including several areas close to Arunachal Pradesh, at the first official visit to this region in 30 years.
Wang’s Gen took over the WTC when India had sought talks of the 13th corps commander with China, with the last July 31 which led to the solution to the release of the troops in the Patrolling Point-17a (PP-17A) near the Indian Crucial Gogra Post.
Previously, in February, the two troops had canceled in the area of Pangong Tso-Kailash Range.
But the deadlock over the other friction point in the hot springs, DEMCHOK and the Department of Places located is located still on, with the entire escalation along the LAC on the East Ladakh not yet on the horizon.
China changed the top commander to oversee the disputed border
