On September 14, Hong Kong Oriental Daily published a news article reporting that, prior to the upcoming 19th National Congress, Xi Jinping finished a major restructuring of the Central Military Commission and the entities that report underneath it. This is unlike how it had been handled in the past when military restructuring took place following the completion of the party’s delegate conference. The restructuring included the elimination of members of the Central Military Commission. They were replaced with four Vice Chairmen of the Central Military Commission which will, therefore, consist of one Chairman and four Vice Chairmen. The article stated that the restructuring occurred after 5 years of cleanup of the old structure from the 18th National Congress in 2012, which former PLA Generals Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou had controlled. The new structure is an indication that Xi has obtained total control of the military. The article explained, “It shows that Xi has built a foundation that is capable of resisting political interference as well as the existing differences inside or outside of the party.”
Source:
Hong Kong Oriental Daily, September 14, 2017
http://hk.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/commentary/20170914/bkn-20170914002326198-0914_00832_001.html