China - Purge.
This brings to 20 the senior officer purged in the last 18 months. The purpose is bring the PLA more under Xi’s direct control. It helps tranform the PLA into a more honed instrument of aggression when Xi choses the moment to go for a full blockade on Taiwan. But it delays such action because the successors to the purged generals and admirals need to consolidate their power within the PLA and mould the PLA leadership into the obedient tool Xi desires.
All this takes time it is likely that kinetic aggression of Taiwan will not happen until the PLA is fully equipped to win that conflict. The ultimate purpose of such a war is to face down the US and degrade the credibility of US power throughout Asia. The date that state of readiness is estimated in the latest Pentagon report (just published) on then Chinese military as 2027.
The Korean Constitutional,Crisis.
Looks like dragging on with double impeachment meaning double political paralysis. The risks are that Pyonyng sees this as too good an oppurtunity to miss and takes some form of military action. Beyond that a prolonged crisis makes buting on dips a risky startegy. I shll leave that to souls braver than i am.
Details
China PLA purge. Beijing has stripped two more generals in the People’s Liberation Army of their lawmaker status, as China continues a wider anti-corruption drive into the country’s military. In a notice on Wednesday, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) confirmed that Lieutenant General You Haitao, former deputy commander of China’s army, and Vice-Admiral Li Pengcheng, former naval commander of the PLA Southern Theatre Command, had been removed from the country’s top legislature.
South Korea political crisis. South Korea’s opposition filed an impeachment motion against acting President Han Duck-soo on Thursday after he refused to appoint 3 Constitutional Court justices needed to rule on President Yoon Suk-yeol’s impeachment.