after the brutal ousting of his predecessor, a former navy chief named defense minister

While mystery hovers around the possible disappearance of his predecessor, a new Minister of Defense has just been appointed in China. Beijing appointed Dong Jun, until then head of the navy, on Friday December 29, ending a two-month vacancy in this strategic post after the unexplained dismissal of his predecessor. Li Shangfu, newly appointed in March, has not been seen in public since August 29. He was abruptly fired in October. The Ministry of Defense has since refused to announce who will take over as interim head of the largest army in the world.

Dong Jun, whose Chinese characters can be translated as “army supervisor”, was until now the commander of the navy, a position he has held since August 2021. This appointment comes two weeks before a presidential election in Taiwan, which China considers one of its provinces. According to Taipei, Beijing has increased military pressure around the island in recent months in the run-up to the vote. China says it favors reunification “peaceful” with the territory, where the approximately 23 million inhabitants are governed by a democratic system. But it has never renounced the use of military force to achieve this.