NEW DELHI: Chinese President Xi Jinping has appointed a new General as the Commander of the People's Liberation Army’s Western Theatre Command which oversees the China-India border, amidst the military standoff in eastern Ladakh.

President Xi, who heads the Central Military Commission (CMC), the overall high-command of the two million-strong People's Liberation Army (PLA), appointed Gen. Zhang Xudong as the Commander of the Western Theatre Command, according to the official media here.

Xi has promoted four senior Chinese military and armed police officers. Among them was Gen. Zhang, Commander of the Western Theatre Command of the PLA, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.

The other officers who were promoted include Guo Puxiao, Political Commissar of the Logistic Support Department of the CMC; Li Wei, Political Commissar of the PLA Strategic Support Force and Wang Chunning, Commander.

The new appointments at the top of the PLA Western Command comes in the midst of the standoff between the Chinese and Indian military in eastern Ladakh since May.

Not much is known about Gen. Zhang, especially his association with Western Theatre Command, as he reportedly served mostly in other theatre commands of the PLA.

He succeeds 65-year-old Gen. Zhao Zongqi who headed the Western Theatre Command during the 2017 Doklam standoff where the Indian Army stood up against the PLA’s plan of laying a road close to the Indian border in an area claimed by Bhutan.

The Ladakh standoff also happened under the watch of Gen Zhao. It began in May after China dispatched thousands of troops which were mobilised for military exercises to eastern Ladakh borders, sparking a new round of tensions with India.

Xudong's military record

The motive behind the promotions, touted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as routine, is veiled in secrecy. Global media knows little about Xudong, and a change of guard at WTC might indicate a stronger push to Chinese premier Xi Jinping's agenda of controlling the occupied areas of Eastern Ladakh, Tibet and East Turkestan, now known as Xinjiang.

The newly appointed Western Theatre commander's responsibilities include protecting China's 4,057 km-long disputed land frontier with India. The Chinese have over the years been claiming tracts of Indian territories along the border, with Ladakh being the scene of intense fighting in 1962 and friction thereafter.

The significance of the promotions could be gauged from the fact that Jinping himself attended the event held in the Chinese defence ministry's famous Bayi building, located near Bayi lake in Beijing.

But while Xudong has no experience of Tibet or Xinjiang (under WTC), he has served many years in the erstwhile sensitive Shenyang MR, responsible for the borders with North Korea and Russia.

While serving in the Shenyang MR, Xudong served in prestigious military formations, commanded a division and was later Chief of Staff before being promoted as Commander of the 39th Group Army.

From March 2017 to January 2018, he served as commander of the PLA Army (Ground Forces) of the Central Theatre Command, which is responsible for the security of China's capital Beijing. In February 2018, he was appointed deputy commander of the Central Theatre Command.

Xudong was also the deputy commander of the Joint Command Headquarters of the 70th anniversary National Day Parade in October 2019. His appointment as WTC commander was first announced publicly at the promotion ceremony this December.

Xudong's political reliability is obviously highly rated. While commanding 115 Division, he was deputy secretary of the Party Committee of the 39th Group Army Infantry and later a member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of 40th and 39th Group Armies.

Following his appointments as Central Military Commission (CMC) chairman, Chinese Communist Party general secretary and President of China, Xi Jinping had announced at the very first enlarged meeting of CMC that political reliability will be the single most important criteria for promotion.

Xudong earned his promotions during Xi's tenure as vice-chairman and subsequently chairman of the CMC. He was promoted to the rank of Major General in July 2012, and in July 2018, to the rank of Lieutenant General.

India should expect no easing of tension consequent to Xudong's appointment as WTC commander since such decisions flow from the CMC. In the case of India, which is a powerful neighbour, it is Xi who is orchestrating the developments. But while Xudong could certainly submit recommendations to the CMC, he will have limited scope for determining its actions.

Why WTC is important for China

WTC, which merged the erstwhile Lanzhou and Chengdu Military Regions (MRs), comprises more than half of China's land area, 22 per cent of its population and over a third of China's land-based military.

Establishment of the new WTC strengthened China's military force deployment opposite India. China's idea of merging Lanzhou and Chengdu MRs was to improve joint planning, coordination and operations.

Incorporation of the Qinghai plateau region in WTC will facilitate rapid induction and deployment of high altitude-acclimatised and -trained troops into Tibet and across Chinese-occupied Ladakh.

The other three promotees apart from Xudong were General Guo Puxiao, political commissar of CMC's logistics support department; General Li Wei, political commissar of the Strategic Support Force; and General Wang Chun Ning, commander of the Armed Police Force.

But it is Xudong who will be closely watched by India, for he is now responsible for implementing the remainder of Xi's military plans in Ladakh and other disputed areas.