President Xi Jinping has set out to purge members of the military who he believes are unwilling or unprepared for war, analysts have claimed.
Experts have shared their concern over Xi's rapidly increasing warlike rhetoric and enhanced military-civilian cooperation.
On December 29 last year, Xi sacked nine senior officers, which caused waves of speculation over the reason behind the dismissals.
Senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute, Gordon Chang suggested that Xi's focus is on scrapping officers who are hesitant about going to war.
President Xi Jinping has set out to purge members of the military who he believes are unwilling or unprepared for war, analysts have claimed
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Chang highlighted the suspension of Chinese Air Force General Liu Yazhou, who warned against a Taiwan invasion and received a suspended death sentence in 2022.
The Chinese leader is "trying to gain control of the military, and I think that he is thinking that he needs officers who are prepared to actually fight," Chang told Business Insider.
"There is a sense that many of China's general officers don't want to fight. And so we really have a force led by an officer corps that is ambivalent about going to war."
But Joel Wuthnow, a senior research fellow in the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs at the National Defense University in Washington, DC said corruption and readying China for war were aligned goals.
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"The removals indicate that Xi should be concerned about the quality of people and equipment he has invested in over the last decade," he said.
Wuthnow added that the nine senior commanders involved would have a crucial role in any military campaign.
He said: "If that equipment malfunctions or can't be relied on, how confident can Xi and his colleagues be that the PLA will prevail?"
China has been involved in hostilities with neighbouring countries such as India, Japan, the Philippines, and Taiwan.
China has been involved in hostilities with neighbouring countries such as India, Japan, the Philippines, and Taiwan
ReutersSome have argued that Xi could be being cautious after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Chang has warned of the conditions for a third world war.
He said: "Remember, in the 1930s, there were separate wars that merged into what we now call World War II.
"The same dynamics exist today, and it's entirely possible, and some people can even argue that it's probable that these will merge into a global conflict."