![]() ![]() It also comes at a time of heightened importance for the branch, which handles China’s missile programs from its nuclear-tipped weapons to the shorter-range missiles used in its recent intimidation of self-governing Taiwan, which China’s ruling Communist Party claims as its own and has not ruled out taking by force. While it remains unclear what triggered the changes, or whether Li or Xu have been reassigned to different positions, experts say the shuffle suggests potential concerns about the force leadership from Xi. The last time Li and Xu Zhongbo were mentioned as Rocket Force leaders was in an April 6 statement from the local government in Suzhou city, where they attended a wreath-laying commemoration ceremony, according to a CNN search. The Rocket Force reshuffle follows several weeks of rumors that a leadership change was afoot as Li had not been in public view, now further fueled by a lack of confirmation about his current position within China’s opaque political system. And it comes a week after China’s former foreign minister, Qin Gang, was suddenly and dramatically ousted from his office without explanation. The replacement of two top figures in the Rocket Force in one sweep with military figures from outside the branch - as Wang comes from the navy and and Xu Xisheng the air force - is an unusual move, experts say. ![]() State media has yet to release any information about previous chief Li Yuchao, a veteran of the force who had only served as commander since the start of last year, a comparatively short tenure, or about previous commissar Xu Zhongbo. On Monday, state media named Wang Houbin as commander of the Rocket Force and Xu Xisheng as the political commissar of the force in a report highlighting their promotion to the rank of general by Chinese leader Xi Jinping. ![]() China has revealed two new leaders of its People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force this week in a surprise shake-up that has raised questions about the inner workings at the top of the military branch overseeing the nation’s powerful arsenal of nuclear and ballistic missiles. ![]()
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