As China’s once-in-a-decade political transition nears, the announcement this week of the promotions of five generals has brought the parallel transition in China’s military leadership into focus. The appointees are widely expected to become members of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the ultimate source of military authority in the country, according to the New York Times.
Two experts who spoke with Trend Lines said these individuals are a piece of the larger puzzle of China’s military modernization.
“These individuals are going to bring a worldview, a set of experiences, that will shape how China becomes a regional and global military,” Bonnie S. Glaser, senior adviser for Asia and the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Trend Lines. “Their backgrounds, the experiences that they have had, their interactions with the world, their perceptions of the United States, of China’s role in the world, all of these will in some way influence how China’s military emerges.”