All The President's Men

Xi Jinping Tightens His Grip on the Communist Party Ahead of the Key November Leadership Congress.

- Ananth Krishnan

DRESSED IN ARMY FATIGUES AND A PEOPLE’S Liberation Army (PLA) cap, Xi Jinping emerged out of the dust in a military jeep. Gathered in front of him on the windswept plains of Zhurihe, Asia’s biggest military base that sits in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region, were 12,000 elite combat troops of the PLA. As Xi’s jeep approached, the troops yelled, “Hail to you, chairman!” “You’ve worked hard, comrades,” Xi responded. The troops continued, “Follow the Party! Fight to win!”

The show of strength on July 30, to mark the 90th anniversary of the PLA, was much more than a military parade. With China for the first time displaying a range of new hardware, including its fifth-generation J-20 stealth fighter, it was a loud message for its neighbours. In recent weeks, the PLA has issued a number of warnings to India amid the standoff at the Doklam plateau near the India-China-Bhutan trijunction, while China’s military strategists have also been nervously looking east at the sabrerattling between North Korea and the United States.