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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news.

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Speaker 2: This Wednesday, in Beijing from the Gate of Heavenly Peace

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Speaker 2: overlooking Tianeman Square, China's President Shijinping will watch the country's

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Speaker 2: first military parade since twenty nineteen.

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Speaker 1: So the parade itself is to celebrate the end of

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Speaker 1: World War Two.

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Speaker 2: Bloomberg's John Liu oversees our coverage of Greater China from Beijing.

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Speaker 1: It's an important event for President she because it's an

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Speaker 1: occasion to show off how much the military has progressed

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Speaker 1: when it comes to modernization, which has been one of

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Speaker 1: the priorities for China under Sijinping.

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Speaker 2: The parade features tens of thousands of troops and hundreds

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Speaker 2: of aircraft. It showcases China's latest weapons system, including combat

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Speaker 2: drones and nuclear capable ballistic missiles. She will also host

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Speaker 2: a who's who of political strongmen.

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Speaker 1: Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong un from North Korea will be

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Speaker 1: making a very rare trip out of North Korea to attend,

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Speaker 1: and you have heads of state from various countries around

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Speaker 1: the world. So it's a chance to show that China

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Speaker 1: has friends, that China has influence. I think it's meant

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Speaker 1: to portray solidarity and strength. That is for both the

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Speaker 1: domestic audience but also for audiences around the world.

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Speaker 2: While China makes a show of flexing its military muscle,

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Speaker 2: a Bloomberg analysis found that behind the scenes, Shi Jinping

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Speaker 2: is conducting an unprecedented purge of military leaders. He's firing

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Speaker 2: generals at a rate not seen since the days of

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Speaker 2: Mount Zadong, who founded the People's Republic of China.

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Speaker 1: There has been a number of generals removed, and it

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Speaker 1: has been especially notable because those generals were appointed under

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Speaker 1: Siji Ping. Chijiping appointed them, and so it poses the

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Speaker 1: question of why is she doing this? Is he able

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Speaker 1: to do this and it shows that he has a

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Speaker 1: greater grasp of power than any of the predecessors that

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Speaker 1: came before, or is this a sign of challenges to

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Speaker 1: She's power in that some of his own men are

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Speaker 1: being forced out.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm Wanha.

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Speaker 2: Every week we take you inside some of the world's

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Speaker 2: biggest and most powerful economies and the markets, tycoons, and

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Speaker 2: businesses that drive this ever shifting region. Today, in the show,

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Speaker 2: China's biggest military purge since the rule of Mao Zudong.

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Speaker 2: Why is Shijin Ping ousting so many generals and what

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Speaker 2: does China's military shakeup mean for the rest of the world.

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Speaker 2: In China, the armed forces occupy a unique place in

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Speaker 2: the country's power structure. The People's Liberation Army or the

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Speaker 2: PLA isn't controlled by the government. It's controlled by the

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Speaker 2: Chinese Communist Party and specifically by the chairman of the

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Speaker 2: party's Central Military Commission.

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Speaker 1: It is the military. It is control of the military

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Speaker 1: that all power is derived in China. So if you

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Speaker 1: look at who is the chairman of the Military Commission,

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Speaker 1: that really tells you who is the main leader in

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Speaker 1: China at any given point in.

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Speaker 2: Today's China, that's Shijinping. His power comes from the Party,

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Speaker 2: the government, and the armed forces.

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Speaker 1: President Shijinping and his immediate predecessors, each of them have

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Speaker 1: held three titles, that of President, head of the Party,

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Speaker 1: and head of the Central Military Commission, so commander in chief.

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Speaker 2: In his role as commander in chief, she has launched

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Speaker 2: a sweeping purge of the military's leadership in recent years.

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Speaker 2: During his current term, fourteen of the seventy nine generals

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Speaker 2: that she himself promoted. That's nearly a fifth of his

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Speaker 2: appointees have either disappeared from public life or been the

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Speaker 2: subject of investigation. In China, those are signs of leaders

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Speaker 2: who have been deposed.

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Speaker 1: The purge itself, in terms of the number of actual

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Speaker 1: people is not that large. I think what is very

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Speaker 1: material about it is that it's never happened in the

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Speaker 1: sense that these are generals that Xi Jinping himself appointed,

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Speaker 1: and when we look back Hu Jintao, she's a media

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Speaker 1: predecessor and before that John z Men, they did not

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Speaker 1: purge or remove any of the generals that were appointed

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Speaker 1: during their time in power.

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Speaker 2: One of the top generals that Hijinping appears to have

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Speaker 2: taken down is Ho Weidong. He's the most senior general

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Speaker 2: that she himself appointed.

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Speaker 1: And this was significant because Ho Weidong, about three or

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Speaker 1: four years ago, was promoted over a number of other

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Speaker 1: generals who should have come before him to become the

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Speaker 1: vice chairman of the Central Military Commission. So it was

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Speaker 1: extremely surprising given what seemed to be she saying, here's

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Speaker 1: my guy, I'm willing to promote him over others, to

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Speaker 1: then suddenly find that General Holwait don't has essentially disappeared

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Speaker 1: from public. We don't have any specifics about what he's

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Speaker 1: being investigated for why he has disappeared from public, but

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Speaker 1: it is very telling that within this purge that even

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Speaker 1: somebody with such a close relationship to She would come

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Speaker 1: to this fate.

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Speaker 2: China's military is opaque and secretive. If a senior officer

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Speaker 2: is demoted or fired, their downfall typically only becomes known

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Speaker 2: when they miss a public event, and even then it's

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Speaker 2: not always clear what happened or why. But John says

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Speaker 2: in She's purge of the PLA, a theme has emerged.

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Speaker 1: One of the things that Hijipin has done since he's

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Speaker 1: been in power is try to crack down on corruption

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Speaker 1: within the military. We understand that was fairly rampant in

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Speaker 1: the past. For example, there were widespread cases of promotion buying,

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Speaker 1: commission buying, and we've even had stories about at the

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Speaker 1: lowest level, especially in the countryside, joining the military is

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Speaker 1: seen as a way to make one's way up the

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Speaker 1: economic ladder, secure a relatively stable income. People were paying

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Speaker 1: thousands of US dollars to be able to get themselves

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Speaker 1: into the military, and so these are all stories and

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Speaker 1: instances of corruption that Shijin King has said publicly he

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Speaker 1: wants to get rid of. He does not want that

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Speaker 1: in the military.

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Speaker 2: One branch of the military that's come under particular scrutiny

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Speaker 2: the Equipment Development Department, which is responsible for acquiring weapons.

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Speaker 2: In twenty twenty three, the department issued an unusual warning.

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Speaker 2: It listed eight issues it was looking into, including leaking

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Speaker 2: information on projects and army units, and helping certain companies

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Speaker 2: secure bids. It said the military was investigating these problems

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Speaker 2: going back.

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Speaker 1: Years, and that announcement signified to a lot of people

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Speaker 1: that this investigation, this corruption crackdown, was going to potentially

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Speaker 1: affect many people, because if you say you are going

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Speaker 1: to look back into the history of the PLA, that

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Speaker 1: would suggest that there would be plenty of dirt to

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Speaker 1: be found on many.

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Speaker 2: Generals, lots of skeletons in the closet there. Yes, john says,

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Speaker 2: it appears that she's primary concern is that corruption could

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Speaker 2: undermine the PLA's effectiveness as a fighting force.

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Speaker 1: The soldiers who are going to be doing the fighting

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Speaker 1: want to be operating under the command of officers they

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Speaker 1: trust and admire. If that structure is questioned, if the

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Speaker 1: soldiers who are carrying out the orders. Question how the

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Speaker 1: officers got to where they were that would be really

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Speaker 1: undermine morale and potentially the ability of that force to

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Speaker 1: win a conflict. And so I think that is why

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Speaker 1: carrying out these purges potentially is such a priority for him.

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Speaker 2: And I guess that's even though it's unclear and opaque,

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Speaker 2: what's driving this completely The fact that she has been

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Speaker 2: able to get rid of so many generals, I mean

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Speaker 2: that must say something about his power.

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Speaker 1: No, well, I think there is a contradiction here because

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Speaker 1: on one hand, I think you could say Chijiping is

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Speaker 1: able to remove generals and maybe even willing to remove

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Speaker 1: generals that he himself appointed, because he is powerful and

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Speaker 1: he is intent on ridding the system of corruption, no

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Speaker 1: matter who it is. At the same time, I think

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Speaker 1: there is a camp of arguments from observers that perhaps

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Speaker 1: Chijiping's hand is being forced in these instances, that he

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Speaker 1: may not have been wanting to purge these specific generals,

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Speaker 1: but because of political pressures within the party, he has

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Speaker 1: had to take these actions that he may otherwise have

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Speaker 1: chosen not to. And unfortunately, given the opaque nature of

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Speaker 1: China's political system and especially of its military. We have

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Speaker 1: a very hard time of knowing whether these purges are

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Speaker 1: a sign of Xijiping's strength. Is he able to do

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Speaker 1: this and it shows that he has a greater grasp

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Speaker 1: of power than any of the predecessors that came before,

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Speaker 1: or is this a sign of challenges to She's power

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Speaker 1: in that some of his own men are being forced out.

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Speaker 1: That unfortunately is extremely hard to know.

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Speaker 2: For about a decade, President she has repeatedly told the

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Speaker 2: Chinese military that it needs to prepare to fight and

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Speaker 2: win wars. It's a tacit acknowledgment that it lacks the

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Speaker 2: ability to do so. As a result, she is now

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Speaker 2: pushing hard to restructure the minis military to make it

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Speaker 2: a better equipped and more effective fighting force. What could

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Speaker 2: that mean for the US and for the rest of

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Speaker 2: the world that's after the break. China has the largest

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Speaker 2: standing army on the planet, with more than two million

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Speaker 2: active troops. Compare that to the US, which has a

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Speaker 2: smaller army about one point three million people in uniform.

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Speaker 2: But Bloombergs John Liu says, while the People's Liberation Army

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Speaker 2: is big, it doesn't mean it's especially strong.

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Speaker 1: If you look instead at capability the United States is

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Speaker 1: obviously more advanced in terms of its military capability. The

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Speaker 1: United States is a global power in the real sense.

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Speaker 1: It's the only nation in the world able to project

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Speaker 1: military power into every corner of the globe. If it's Iran,

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Speaker 1: if it's in Latin America, if it's in the Arctic.

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Speaker 1: The United States has battleships, aircraft carriers, planes, submarines, satellites

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Speaker 1: that can touch anywhere in the world. China does not happen.

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Speaker 2: What China does have is a much more narrow focus

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Speaker 2: than the US military. For one, China is laser focused

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Speaker 2: on Taiwan.

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Speaker 1: There's a long historic rationale for that. It ultimately comes

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Speaker 1: down to the Chinese state believing fundamentally that Taiwan is

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Speaker 1: a part of the Chinese state and willing to go

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Speaker 1: to war to ensure that it remains that way, and

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Speaker 1: so the military is designed and built to fight and

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Speaker 1: win a possible conflict around Taiwan.

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Speaker 2: Another priority for China's military the South China Sea.

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Speaker 1: So the South China Sea is a very important theater

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Speaker 1: of operation for the Chinese military. That's because the Chinese

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Speaker 1: state has a number of heating territorial claims in that

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Speaker 1: area with Vietnam, with the Philippines, and so the Chinese

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Speaker 1: military wants to be able to project force and to

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Speaker 1: claim and protect those claims that it has there. The

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Speaker 1: other part of the South China Sea is China depends

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Speaker 1: a great deal on energy exports from the Middle East,

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Speaker 1: oil coming through the Malacca Strait. That oil has to

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Speaker 1: come by ships through the South China Sea to get

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Speaker 1: to China proper. If the United States were able to

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Speaker 1: close that off, that would undermine China's capabilities in a

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Speaker 1: tremendous way.

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Speaker 2: The Chinese armed forces weren't designed to protect its interests

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Speaker 2: away from the mainland. John says that's part of the

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Speaker 2: reason that the military is going through such a big

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Speaker 2: revamp now.

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Speaker 1: The PLA was created as a fighting force for the

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Speaker 1: Chinese Civil War, and that was a conflict that was

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Speaker 1: fought primarily on land, and so in the past, the

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Speaker 1: People's Liberation Army was very focused on land forces, right, tanks,

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Speaker 1: foot soldiers, trucks. That is not the military that China

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Speaker 1: needs today, and certainly not the military that China needs

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Speaker 1: if its primary objective is to fight and win a

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Speaker 1: conflict around Taiwan. Not if its primary objective is to

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Speaker 1: contest its territorial disputes in the South China Sea. What

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Speaker 1: China needs instead is a navy. It needs aircraft, it

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Speaker 1: needs missiles. And what Chiji Ping has done since he's

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Speaker 1: taken power in twenty twelve is he's reshaped a military

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Speaker 1: to put much more emphasis on those parts of its capability.

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Speaker 1: He made the Rocket Force its own separate fighting force

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Speaker 1: on par with the army, the air Force, and the navy.

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Speaker 2: So John, we have this unprecedented purge of generals by

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Speaker 2: Xijin Ping at the same time he's restructuring and upgrading

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Speaker 2: the capabilities of China's armed forces. Should the US be worried?

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Speaker 1: So I think today there is no doubt that the

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Speaker 1: US military is the pre eminent force in the world.

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Speaker 1: China is second, but it's a distant second. And the

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Speaker 1: United States spends somewhere around a trillion dollars on its military.

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Speaker 1: That's more than the nine next largest spenders combined, and

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Speaker 1: so China is no match for the US globally at

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Speaker 1: this moment. China, though, is growing that budget. So China's

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Speaker 1: military spending is going to go up by seven point

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Speaker 1: two percent this year. It's been rising by more than

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Speaker 1: six percent annually for the last few decades. The US,

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Speaker 1: by comparison, we have Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth proposing a

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Speaker 1: plan to reduce defense spending by I think about eight

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Speaker 1: percent over the next five years. And if we look

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Speaker 1: at some of the Congressional Budget Offices projections, there is

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Speaker 1: actually an expectation that defence spending in the US as

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Speaker 1: a proportion of GDP is going to decline over the

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Speaker 1: next five years or so.

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Speaker 2: John says this doesn't mean that China is about to

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Speaker 2: catch up with the United States in terms of military power,

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Speaker 2: but he says it does reflect China's broadened outlook on

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Speaker 2: the world.

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Speaker 1: So the famous quote from Malzadolng is that political power

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Speaker 1: grows from the barrel of a gun, and I think

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Speaker 1: in this context that is an adage changing pain and

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Speaker 1: the Communist Party believes that quote from Malzadna reminds me

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Speaker 1: of another adage, which is that anything that you can

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Speaker 1: win at the negotiating table, you must first be able

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Speaker 1: to win on the battlefield. And so I think we

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Speaker 1: are moving, unfortunately into a world where that is becoming

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Speaker 1: more and more true.

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Speaker 2: This is the big take Asia from Bloomberg news I'm wanha.

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