There are reports that Admiral Miao Hua might emerge as a possible rival to Xi Jinping amid the leader’s ongoing purge of top military officials. However, an anonymous source revealed to The Epoch Times that Miao lacks the required power to mount a challenge against Xi. Du Zheng, a freelance writer, wrote an article in “Upmedia,” a Chinese publication, stating that Miao is also in charge of political work and has positioned allies within the Chinese Communist Party’s military branch, the People’s Liberation Army.
According to Du, Dong Jun, the regime’s new Minister of Defense, and a number of other high-ranking military officials have a close relationship with Miao. Miao transferred from the army to the navy in 2014 and held various positions before being appointed as the director of the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission. Wang Juntao, the chairman of the national committee for the Democracy Party of China, expressed skepticism about Miao’s ability to pose a challenge to Xi.
He stated that the core of the CCP’s political system, the spy system, remains out of Miao’s control after the military reform. This supports the claim that Miao does not have the power to successfully challenge Xi. Wang believes that Xi continues to arrest top officials in the military, and Miao does not possess the core power to take on Xi.