Amid High Level Leak, Mysterious Deaths, China Reorganizes Military Branches

China has reorganized its military branches amid efforts to root out the source of what it believes to be a high-level leak that revealed sensitive information in a U.S. report in late 2022, according to a U.S. military education university.

A missile from the rocket force of the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army takes part in operations during combat readiness patrol and military exercises around Taiwan, on April 7, 2023. Liu Mingsong/Xinhua via AP

China began transferring aviation units from its Navy to its Air Force earlier this year and is expected to have now moved the majority of fighter, bomber, radar, air defense, and airfield units to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force (PLAAF), according to a China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI) report (pdf).

CASI, part of the Alabama-based Air University, studies China’s air force strategy and threat against the United States.