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China called Dong Jun as its brand-new defence minister on Friday to change the last minister who vanished 4 months earlier.
The visit by Chinese legislators comes as President Xi Jinping upgrades the military as part of his push to make China a dominant world power, an objective that has actually alarmed lots of neighbours.
The function of China’s defence minister is to be the general public face of the People’s Liberation Army in its engagement with the media and with other armed forces.
Unlike other nations, the ministry has little state in defence policy or military management, locations that fall under the province of Central Military Commission, an elite group led by Xi.
Dong, 62, was most just recently the People’s Liberation Army Navy chief. He changes Li Shangfu, who used up the defence minister task in March however had actually not been seen in public considering thatAug 25.
Reuters mentioned sources to report that Li was under examination for corruption associated to devices procurement and advancement.
Beijing has actually not described Li’s disappearance however removed him of his title as defence minister and state councillor in October.
An important component of China’s defence minister task is to engage with the United States military to reduce the danger of dispute over Taiwan and the South China Sea, 2 flashpoints that have actually seen increasing brushes in the last few years.
Yet throughout his quick period as minister, Li did not satisfy his U.S. equivalent – Defense Secretary LloydAustin The ministry described that Washington would need to very first get rid of the sanctions it put on Li on 2018 over his function in acquiring Russian airplane and devices.
Dong would deal with no such restraint, as he is not understood to be under U.S. sanctions.
When President Joe Biden and Xi fulfilled in San Francisco last month, both leaders accepted resume senior military talks that were suspended following then-House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s see to self-ruled Taiwan in August2022
