The photo shows the ousted Central Military Commission Vice-Chairman Zhang Muta. Photographed in April 2024 in Qingdao City, Shandong Province. REUTERS/Florence Lo
[ワシントン／北京 ２８日 ロイター] – Former US government officials and analysts point out that the United States has lost an important point of contact with the People’s Liberation Army due to the ouster of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s top uniformed official, Zhang Mutai, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission.
As President Xi Jinping continues to crack down on corruption in the People’s Liberation Army, the Chinese Ministry of Defense announced on the 24th that Zhang and others are being investigated for serious violations of discipline and the law.
To avoid conflict between the United States and China, which have the world’s most powerful militaries, successive U.S. administrations have worked to build networks of communication with senior officials. Multiple former US government officials told Reuters that Zhang’s ouster was a shock.
In response to former U.S. House Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, China cut off almost all contact between the People’s Liberation Army and the U.S. military for about 1 year and 5 months. Mr. Xi subsequently allowed Mr. Zhang to contact the United States under the former Biden administration (Democratic Party).
Mr. Zhang, who was one of the few senior military officials with combat experience in the 1979 Sino-Vietnam war that broke out when China invaded Vietnam, was seen by the US as an able advisor to Mr. Xi, who heads the Central Military Commission.
David Stilwell, who served as assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific Affairs during the first Trump administration, recalls that Zhang was the only Chinese officer on a military delegation sent to the United States for a week in May 2012 to request to board a U.S. military transport plane, the Osprey. “Mr. Zhang is very different from other PLA officers. He would have integrated very well into the U.S. military,” Stilwell said, adding that his eagerness to interact with U.S. soldiers and test weapons gave the impression that he was an apolitical professional soldier. “I think what will be lost with Zhang’s departure is a voice of reason.”
Following Mr. Zhang’s ouster, only Vice President Zhang Shengmin remains in uniform on the Central Military Commission.
Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam Institute for International Studies, who has worked with Zhang as a U.S. defense official, questioned: “If there is only one (uniformed) member of the Central Military Commission, who will Mr. Xi call upon to respond to a crisis?” “That creates a risk of miscalculation,” he warned.
Eric Handmann, a China military expert at Blue Pass Labs, a security consulting firm based in Washington, D.C., said that military-to-military interactions under the Xi administration tend to follow a script, even at the level of the Central Military Commission. “The People’s Liberation Army has a pretty good grasp of its own capabilities and has no interest in moving to a Taiwan crisis before it’s ready. My question is to what extent is Mr. Xi listening to the military’s opinions?” He then confessed, “I’m worried that Mr. Xi may have received even worse advice.”
A senior U.S. government official said that the Trump administration (Republican) was not in a position to comment on China’s “reports of internal conspiracy,” but explained that the U.S. is “building up a military force capable of deterring aggression along the first island chain (China’s maritime defense line).”
The Department of Defense did not respond to requests for comment. The Chinese embassy in Washington also declined to respond.
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