Speculation is rife over whether Peng Liyuan is helping Xi control China’s military.
As Chinese supreme leader Xi Jinping deals with “complicated challenges” that his top military brass is presenting him, he is likely leaning more on a longtime aide, his wife, Peng Liyuan.
Two developments point to this. The first starts with the expulsion of two former defense ministers from the Chinese Communist Party and ends with the naming of a new defense chief.
The dismissals of Wei Fenghe and his successor Li Shangfu had long been anticipated; the two disappeared from the public eye last year.
When Xi, 71, China’s president and the party’s general secretary, assumed those posts 12 years ago, Wei, 70, became a member of the Central Military Commission, the top organ supervising the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Wei served two five-year terms. Li, 66, who succeeded Wei as defense minister in March 2023, was also a CMC member.
