The Chinese Western Theatre Command Gets A New General And Its Implications On India
General Zhang Xudong takes over the Western Theatre Command (WTC), which is the largest of the PLA’s five Theatre Commands and, for India, the most potent. The WTC merged the erstwhile Lanzhou and Chengdu Military Regions (MRs) and comprises more than half China’s land area, 22 percent of its population and more than one-third of China’s land-based military.
The responsibilities of the PLA WTC include safeguarding China’s borders with Afghanistan, Pakistan, safeguarding Chinese investments and projects in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), protecting China’s 4057 kms-long land frontier with India and focussing on “threats in Xinjiang and Tibet as well as Afghanistan and other states that host training bases for separatists and extremists”.
General Zhang Xudong is an ethnic Han and a member of the CCP. While he has no experience of Tibet or Xinjiang, he has served many years in the erstwhile sensitive Shenyang Military Region which has responsibility for the borders with North Korea and Russia. While there he served in prestigious military formations, commanded a Division and was later Chief of Staff before being promoted as Commander of the 39th Group Army.
From March 2017 to January 2018, he served as Commander of the PLA Army (PLAA) and Deputy Commander of the Central Theatre Command. He was appointed Deputy Commander of the Central Theatre Command in February 2018. Zhang Xudong was Deputy Commander of the Joint Command Headquarters of the 70th anniversary National Day parade in October 2019. His appointment as WTC Commander was first announced publicly at the promotion ceremony this December.
An important factor in the PLA is the political credibility of an officer and Zhang Xudong’s political reliability is obviously highly rated. While commanding 115 Division he was Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the 39th Group Army Infantry and later member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of the 40th Group Army. He was also a Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of the 39th Group Army when he was Chief of Staff of the Group Army. This will certainly have been a factor in his early promotions, especially since Xi Jinping announced at the very first enlarged meeting of the CMC immediately following his appointment as CMC Chairman, Party General Secretary and President of China, that political reliability will be the single most important criteria for promotion.
General Zhang Xudong has earned his promotions during Xi Jinping’s tenure as Vice Chairman and subsequently Chairman of the CMC. His promotions have been early or at least on time. He was promoted to the rank of Major General in July 2012, and in July 2018, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General.
Implications for India
India should expect no easing of tension consequent to General Zhang Xudong’s appointment as WTC Commander since such decisions flow from the CMC. In the case of India, it is Xi Jinping who is orchestrating developments. Zhang Xudong might use his experience of negotiations with the North Korea’s Korean People’s Army (KPA) to influence the ongoing protracted negotiations between India and China on the border in Ladakh, but beyond that has no authority to alter either the trend of negotiations or planned military operations.
Source: StratNews Global
