No, Xi isn’t tired, he’s just wearing fatigues. And he’s the first Chinese Communist Party leader to do so. So why the hot new style? Well, Xi just gave himself a promotion. According to state-run media, he’s now the commander in chief of the military’s Joint Operations Command Center. Why?
According to Party Mouthpiece Xinhua, Xi said, “The current situation requires battle command to be highly strategic, coordinated, timely, professional and accurate”— as well as suave, sophisticated, and exuding the rich smell of mahogany.
So until Xi Jinping came to power, the People’s Liberation Army never had a joint command. Joint command is where the different branches of the military—air force, army, and navy—can work together and know what the others are doing. Kind of important, right? That’s why pretty much every modern military has one.
But in China, the problem has been that that whoever’s charge of the joint command would also have tremendous political power. And since your typical Party leader is pretty much in a constant battle to get some edge over all the other jerks that never happened.
