The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) celebrated its 96th anniversary on Tuesday with President Xi Jinping, who is also the head of the armed forces, sending a message calling for “expanding combat capability and readiness,” as well as accelerating efforts to promote the modernization of an army that has around two million troops.

But in the military circles of Beijing, more than about the celebrations for the anniversary of the founding of the PLA, the hot topic was the new anti-corruption campaign that has dragged high-ranking officials from the department that is in charge of supervising ballistic missiles and the country's nuclear arsenal.

The capital of the Asian giant had long been rumored about the fatal fate of General Li Yuchao, commander of the PLA Rocket Force, and his deputy, General Liu Guangbin.. Both had been out of the public spotlight for several months and this week the state media confirmed that they were being investigated by the Disciplinary Inspection Commission, the anti-corruption body of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), headed by President Xi himself. Jinping.

The latest purge in the army is significant because it has swept away an army heavyweight like Li, who last year was also promoted to a member of the Central Committee, the highest leadership body of the ruling Communist Party (CCP).

In the past decade, since Xi Jinping launched a mega anti-corruption campaign early in his tenure that ended the careers of thousands of officials at all levels, Li has been the highest-ranking general involved in one of these investigations.

Beijing military analysts often point out that the PLA, especially in recent years, has not stopped expanding its missile force, deploying mainly medium-range ballistic missiles such as the DF-17 in the country's most southeastern provinces. close to Taiwan. The purpose is to be prepared in the event that a military conflict breaks out in the strait that separates China from the autonomous island that it considers a breakaway province.

Heading the Rocket Force will now be a military veteran named Wang Houbin, a former deputy commander of the navy, promoted Monday from the rank of lieutenant general to full general..

The Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post, which was the one that advanced the information on the latest purge, details that the unit that Wang will lead from now on is also a key element of China's nuclear deterrence strategy, responsible for guaranteeing security of all strategic nuclear missiles, as well as deploying nuclear warheads in specific places, always following the instructions of the CMC.

According to the latest report on nuclear weapons presented in June by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), China led the expansion of this weapon last year: up to 60 new warheads (from 350 in January 2022 to 410 in January 2023) counts the third largest nuclear power in the world, behind the United States and Russia, which still account for almost 90% of all nuclear weapons.