China set to reshuffle military top brass with an eye on Taiwan

Both generals turn 72 this year and will have to retire from the CMC and the party's 25-member decision-making Politburo at the 20th party congress later this year.

- Benjamin Kang Lim

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has a dearth of generals with combat experience as China has not fought a war since 1979, when it briefly invaded Vietnam to "teach (it) a lesson" for making military incursions into Cambodia and deposing the Beijingbacked Khmer Rouge the previous year.

So when the PLA Ground Force's General Zhang Youxia, a veteran of the month-long conflict along the 600km China-Vietnam border, became the second-ranked vice-chairman of the Communist Party's Central Military Commission (CMC) in 2017, the appointment gave rise to speculation about Chinese intentions regarding self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing has claimed as its own since 1949.

As it turned out, the mandate of Gen Zhang and the PLA Air Force's General Xu Qiliang, the firstranked CMC vice-chairman, was to help President Xi Jinping transform the two-million-strong PLA into a fighting force capable of winning wars.

Both generals turn 72 this year and will have to retire from the CMC and the party's 25-member decision-making Politburo at the 20th party congress later this year.

As part of a reshuffle of the top brass at the upcoming conclave, PLA Air Force commander Ding Laihang, 65, is tipped to become one of two CMC vicechairmen, in a hint that China might be bracing itself for a showdown with Taiwan.