After the Beidaihe Conference, the top leader of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping recently appeared in Tibet. During Xi’s meeting with Tibetan military officers, the absence of the commander of the Tibet Military Region, Major General Wang Kai, has sparked speculation.
Footage from the CCTV news broadcast showed Xi Jinping meeting with colonel and above-ranked officers stationed in Lhasa on the afternoon of August 20th. In the group photo, the person sitting on Xi Jinping’s right side is the political commissar of the Tibet Military Region, Yuan Honggang, and on the left side is Zhang Shengmin, a member of the Central Military Commission and secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the Military Commission. Major General Wang Kai, the commander of the Tibet Military Region, was notably absent.
According to some Hong Kong media, it is not ruled out that Wang Kai may be linked to recent high-level personnel changes in the military.
Public records show that Wang Kai, 62 years old, a native of Meishan, Sichuan, previously served as the commander of the 37th Division of the 13th Group Army and participated in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake relief efforts. He was promoted to the commander of the 13th Group Army at the end of 2013. In 2017, he became the deputy commander of the Western Theater Command of the Army, and in April 2021, he was appointed as the commander of the Tibet Military Region. At the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 2022, Wang Kai was included in the list of Central Committee members.
The headquarters of the 13th Army Corps is located in Chongqing, under the Western Theater Command of the Army. Zhang Youxia, the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Zhao Zongqi, the former commander of the Western Theater Command, have also served as commanders of the 13th Army Corps.
After the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, there has been intense infighting among the top ranks of the CCP’s military. Prominent figures who have been officially announced to have fallen from grace include former Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe, former Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu, former Air Force Commander Ding Laihang, former commanders of the Rocket Force Li Yuchao and Zhou Yaning, as well as Miao Hua, the head of the Political Work Department of the Military Commission, among others. It is also rumored that Vice Chairman of the Military Commission He Weidong is under investigation. Numerous major generals and brigadier generals have also been taken down.
The Chinese Communist Party officially announced that the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee will be held in October. Last month, the Central Military Commission issued a directive to the military to “comprehensively eradicate the harmful influences,” signaling a renewed wave of purges.