China has its first defense minister from the navy

China has appointed its former top naval commander as its new defense minister, two months after Li Shangfu was removed from the post.

General Dong Jun, 62, former commander of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, will take on the new role, according to a decision by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress ( NPC ) of China at its session that ended on December 29.

Li Shangfu's dismissal was confirmed at a similar meeting in October 2023. Li has not been seen in public since late August 2023 and no reason was given for his removal as China's defense minister.

Mr. Li is the first Chinese defense minister to be sanctioned by the US since 2018 under Donald Trump for buying fighter jets and equipment from Russian state-owned arms exporter Rosoboronexport.

Dong, who is not on any US sanctions list, is China’s first defense minister from the navy. He served in all major PLA Navy units before becoming the top commander of the Chinese navy in 2021, including the North Sea Fleet, which regularly participates in joint exercises with the Russian navy, the East Sea Fleet, as well as the Southern Theater Command.

According to state media, Dong commanded China’s joint naval exercise with Russia in 2016 when he was deputy chief of staff of the navy. The general also commanded China’s joint exercise with Pakistan in 2020 when he was deputy commander of the Southern Theater Command.

World - China has its first Defense Minister from the Navy — General Dong Jun (left) was appointed as China's Minister of National Defense to replace Li Shangfu. Photo: Channel News Asia

China's navy has played a key role as the PLA has expanded its diplomatic reach in recent years. Dong's appointment comes just days after Beijing named submarine commander Hu Zhongming as the new commander of the PLA Navy.

Dong’s appointment also comes as the US and China are taking steps to resume high-level military contacts. Those talks were scaled back significantly after then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022.

The ice was broken last week when General Charles “CQ” Brown, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke by phone with his Chinese counterpart, General Liu Zhenli.

This is the highest level of contact between the two superpowers' militaries in more than a year and was described by China's Ministry of National Defense as bringing "positive and constructive" results.

The two countries' defense ministers have not had any contact or phone calls since November 2022, despite repeated requests from the Pentagon.

Tensions between Beijing and Washington are rising in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait amid a lack of reliable lines of communication, raising the risk of misunderstandings or escalation.

As part of efforts to ease those tensions, China and the United States agreed in November 2023 to restore military communication channels. A senior U.S. military official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said such talks would resume in January 2024 .

Minh Duc (According to SCMP, Bloomberg)

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