n December 4, 2024, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping, accompanied by members of the Central Military Commission (CMC), visited the headquarters of the newly established Information Support Force in Beijing.
[People News] Amid an atmosphere of internal strife within the CCP military, two more generals with Air Force backgrounds have been promoted. According to news cited by the CCP Ministry of National Defense from military media on the 22nd, the ceremony for the Central Military Commission’s promotion to the rank of full general was held at the August 1 Building. Xi Jinping presented the promotion orders to Yang Zhibin, Commander of the Eastern Theater Command, and Han Shengyan, Commander of the Central Theater Command, who were promoted to the rank of full general. Their résumés show that both men come from the Air Force system and the Eastern Theater Command.
In October this year, the CCP military announced the takedown of former CMC Vice Chairman He Weidong as well as Lin Xiangyang, Qin Shutong, Wang Xiubin, and nine other full generals. Many of these individuals came from the Eastern Theater Command, the 31st Group Army, and the Air Force system. Recently, the CCP military also issued an open-ended call for tips on procurement corruption within the Air Force system. There are widespread rumors that Air Force Commander Full General Chang Dingqiu suddenly died during a period of “detention and questioning” by the (Military Discipline Inspection Commission and Supervisory Commission), and that Air Force Political Commissar Guo Puxiao has fallen. Neither of these two appeared at this full general promotion ceremony.
Logically speaking, there are currently many vacancies at the full general level in the CCP military that need to be filled. Why were only these two promoted? Whose men are Yang Zhibin and Han Shengyan? Under the current conditions of turmoil and panic within the Eastern Theater Command and the Air Force system, were they specially selected and valued, or are they merely temporary stopgap choices in an emergency transition? Can their futures remain safe and uneventful?
At the Fourth Plenary Session, 16 of the 20 full generals were absent. At this promotion ceremony for full generals, 6 of the 10 full generals were absent. A tally shows that among the 79 full generals promoted since Xi Jinping came to power, about 36 have already officially fallen, been removed from office, or have been drawn into rumors of downfall—nearly half lost. Now, only two can be promoted.
Observers analyze that this indicates, on the one hand, that Xi’s CCP truly has very few commanders it can currently trust, and there simply are not many usable people left; on the other hand, the Eastern Theater Command is responsible for the Taiwan Strait and the East China Sea, while the Central Theater Command is not only an important strategic reserve force among all theater commands, but also responsible for the defense of the political center, Beijing. Xi’s CCP still places great importance on military intimidation toward Taiwan.
What is bizarre is that while the Commander of the Eastern Theater Command was promoted to full general, its Political Commissar Zhang Jichun was not simultaneously promoted to full general. Logically, in order to maintain an image of balanced power, no matter how little trust there is, the political commissar should have been promoted to full general. Zhang Jichun’s résumé shows that he comes from the Rocket Force and was once a subordinate of Zhang Shengmin.
Observers analyze that although Zhang Shengmin was promoted to Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, he was not promoted to a member of the CCP Politburo, indicating that the power of this vice chairmanship is nominal. He may still not have gained Xi’s trust.
Public information shows that both Yang Zhibin and Han Shengyan have Air Force backgrounds.
Yang Zhibin once served as commander of the 26th Aviation Division of the Air Force of the Nanjing Military Region. His senior mentor was Xu Qiliang, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, who “died suddenly of illness” in June this year. The former Air Force Commander Ding Laihang, who fell in 2023, also came from the Air Force’s 8th Corps stationed in Fujian. Both Ding Laihang and Yang Zhibin once served as commanders of the Air Force Fuzhou Command Post. After that, Yang served as commander of the Air Force Shanghai Command Post. In 2010, he became commander of the Air Force Wuhan Command Post. In 2011, he was reassigned as commander of the Air Force Fuzhou Command Post. In December 2014, he was promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff of the Lanzhou Military Region and concurrently Chief of Staff of the Lanzhou Military Region Air Force. In January 2016, he became Director of the Aftermath Work Office of the Lanzhou Military Region Air Force. In April 2017, he became Commander of the Shaanxi Provincial Military District. In September 2025, he was transferred to serve as Deputy Commander of the Eastern Theater Command. The previous two commanders of the Eastern Theater Command, He Weidong and Lin Xiangyang, were recently officially announced to have fallen.
Han Shengyan earlier served as Director of the Military Training Department of the Air Force Headquarters of the Nanjing Military Region (now the Eastern Theater Command). In December 2002, he became Commander of the 29th Aviation Division of the Air Force of the Nanjing Military Region; in October 2003, he became Commander of the 3rd Aviation Division of the Air Force of the Nanjing Military Region; in February 2008, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force of the former Chengdu Military Region; in July 2011, he became Chief of Staff of the Air Force of the former Lanzhou Military Region; in 2013, he served as Deputy Commander of the Air Force of the former Chengdu Military Region; and in February 2014, he became Commander of the Air Force Test and Training Base.
It is worth noting that in the recent internal strife within the military, the Eastern Theater Command has become a key target of “purges.” Among the nine full generals who were collectively expelled from the Party and the military before the Fourth Plenary Session in October this year, those from the Eastern Theater Command accounted for a large proportion, including Miao Hua, He Weidong, and Armed Police Force Commander Wang Chunning. At the Fourth Plenary Session, there were also full generals who “disappeared,” including Eastern Theater Command Political Commissar Liu Qingsong.
Against this background, Yang and Han being promoted to full general has led political observers to analyze that these two should be figures approved by Zhang Youxia and Zhang Shengmin. However, whether they are loyal to Xi, and whether Xi trusts them, are both unknowns—because approval by Zhang Youxia and Zhang Shengmin does not necessarily mean Xi truly accepts them in his heart. In particular, since Zhang Shengmin made the recommendation, given the lessons of He Weidong and Miao Hua, Xi cannot help but be extra cautious. In addition, some media analyses believe that because these two new full generals come from the sensitive anti-corruption disaster zone of the Eastern Theater Command (formerly the Nanjing Military Region) and both have Air Force backgrounds, it is hard to rule out that they may later be implicated and run into trouble.
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