Purge of Elite Academics Signals Chinese Military’s Combat Unreliability: Analysts

Three senior military experts have been removed from China’s top engineering academy.
Purge of Elite Academics Signals Chinese Military’s Combat Unreliability: Analysts
Delegates vote during the election of the new chairman of China during the 12th National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing on March 14, 2013. Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images
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The recent purge of top Chinese nuclear and missile experts exposes severe flaws in the regime’s military hardware, suggesting that high-ranking generals have no confidence in their own weapons, experts say.

The Chinese Academy of Engineering has removed three of its top academics from its website, including two former vice presidents of the organization, Wu Manqing and Zhao Xiaogeng. Wei Yiyin was a former deputy general manager of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation.

Jarvis Lim
Jarvis Lim
Author
Jarvis Lim is a Taiwan-based writer focusing on human rights, U.S.–China relations, China's economic and political influence in Southeast Asia, and cross-strait relations.