News analysis
At a Sept. 28 symposium in Beijing, Chinese leader Xi Jinping gave a speech on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Admiral Liu Huaqing, who was active in the 1980s and 1990s and served as one of China’s most powerful officers before being deposed in a political struggle. Liu died in 2011, aged 95.
In a commemorative speech that ran about a dozen pages, Xi quoted Liu at length and praised the naval commander for his efforts at strengthening and reforming the Chinese military, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
“There is no way out for the country without reform,” Liu had said, “and the same holds true for the military.”
Xi also highlighted how Liu played in a critical role in 1992, the year he was named to become a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, the most powerful body in the Chinese Communist Party. The speech is highly significant, and even unusual, for another reason: Liu Huaqing was a rival of Jiang Zemin, the former regime leader whose influence Xi Jinping has fought against since he came to power.
The Chinese leader’s words of acclaim for Liu and reform are likely imbued with more political weight than the birthday of a deceased cadre would otherwise warrant.
Building a Case Against Political Rivals
Jiang was a Party official from Shanghai who rose to prominence following the Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing. As general secretary of the Communist Party, he was at loggerheads with Liu Huaqing, the final military man to serve on the Politburo Standing Committee, the Party’s powerful nerve center.
A protege of the still-powerful elder Deng Xiaoping, Liu did not submit to Jiang’s political will. But after Deng died in 1997, Jiang and his allies strongarmed Deng’s associates at the 15th Party Congress held later that year, removing the checks on Jiang’s political influence in the regime. Liu Huaqing was one of those targeted in the purge, soft by Communist Party standards, and he retired from his positions the following year.
In the speech, Xi not only made note of Liu’s “contribution to socialism with Chinese characteristics” as Xinhua put it, but also quoted the admiral as saying that “there is no hope for the military if our comrades resort to backdoor deals to attain promotion. This decimates the morale of the military.”
The current Chinese regime administration, led by Xi Jinping, has been active in punishing and removing thousands of Party, state, and military officials, ostensibly for corruption and other disciplinary violations.
