China promotes military officers experienced in Taiwan affairs

[Flashermac]

BEIJING: China has promoted senior military officers with experience in planning for war over Taiwan ahead of a key political meeting next week at which the Communist Party has said it will adopt a new strategy to stop the self-governing island moving toward independence.

 

In a move that was quietly handled even by the standards of China's secretive military, Beijing last month elevated General Chen Bingde of the army to chief of the general staff, a post where he will exercise day-to-day operational command of the country's 2.3 million-strong armed forces.

 

As Chen was promoted through the senior ranks in the 1980s and 1990s, he held a series of command posts in the Nanjing Military Region opposite Taiwan, where China has concentrated its preparations for any conflict over the island, according to official biographies and military analysts.

 

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