Bloomberg reported on Saturday that US intelligence revealed why Chinese President Xi Jinping reshuffled his military cabinet.
Over a period of months in 2023, Mr. It became “unknown”. U.S. intelligence believes Mr. Xi did this to root out widespread corruption and fraud within his own ranks, which has greatly weakened China's military, people familiar with the matter said. People familiar with the matter said. talked To Bloomberg. (Related article: 'There's no real insight': US espionage in China is way behind where it should be, former Intel official says)
Examples include China's network of missile silos so poorly constructed that missiles cannot be launched, according to Bloomberg. Some missiles could not be launched at all because their fuel tanks were filled with water.
President Xi's cabinet now resembles Agatha Christie's novel, And Then There Were None. First, Foreign Minister Qin Gang went missing, then the Rocket Force commander went missing, and now Defense Minister Lee Shang-fu has not been seen in public for two weeks. Who does it…
— U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel (@USAmbJapan) September 8, 2023
Other examples include “information leaks” to outside parties and conflicts of interest in winning bids for certain companies, according to Bloomberg.
According to Bloomberg, the damage inflicted on the People's Liberation Army by corruption is so great that it is unlikely that Mr. Xi will launch a major military operation in the next few years. China's biggest weakness in this case is its rocket force, which would play a key role in the invasion of Taiwan, so it was a priority for Xi.
According to Bloomberg, China's legislative body, the National People's Congress, on December 29th dismissed nine defense officials, some of whom had served in the People's Liberation Army's missile and weapons units. That's what it means. A few days earlier, China's legislative advisory body had fired three national missile developers.
General Li Shangfu, China's former defense minister and commander of the Rocket Forces, was fired in October. At that point, he hadn't been seen for months, or even months after that. His firing was followed in November by another Rocket Forces commander, according to Bloomberg. According to Bloomberg, this could be the biggest military chaos in modern Chinese history.
Despite this revelation, U.S. intelligence agencies still struggle to understand what is going on behind closed doors in the Beijing government or what President Xi Jinping's long-term plans actually are. “We have no real insight into the plans or intentions of the Chinese leadership,” a former intelligence official with recent knowledge of the matter told the Journal in December.
The White House National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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