China appointed Dong Jun, a former commander of the Chinese Navy, as its new defense minister, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.
Dong's appointment was announced by the Standing Committee of China's rubber-stamp parliament and comes two months after the removal of former Chinese defense minister Li Shangfu from his role without explanation.
Because Dong is not a member of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Military Commission, some analysts think his appointment suggests he may not play a significant role in the Chinese military.
"Dong is not a member of the Central Military Commission's leadership, so it indicates that he may not be as important as Li Shangfu, who was a member of the commission," Alfred Wu, an expert on Chinese politics at the National University of Singapore, told VOA in a phone call.
While he may not have much authority over the operation of the Chinese military, Dong's experience as the top commander of the Chinese Navy and the deputy commander of the People's Liberation Army's Southern Theater Command, which oversees PLA Navy's activities in the South China Sea, reflect the growing level of importance that Beijing attaches to the territorially disputed waters.
"The new defense minister's appointment and the elevation of a new crop of top military officers with navy and South China Sea experience is a sign that China sees South China Sea as a new priority area of geopolitical contestation between China and the U.S.," Wen-Ti Sung, a political scientist at the Australian National University, told VOA in a written response.
Since the defense minister is largely a ceremonial role that focuses on international engagement, other analysts say Dong's experience in dealing with Russia and other countries in the South China Sea makes him an ideal candidate to be the new Chinese defense minister.
"Since he took part in the joint naval exercise with Russia and also his interactions with other countries' navies in the South China Sea, he may know how to respond to press inquiries related to U.S.-China competition in the South China Sea," Lin Ying-yu, a China military expert at Tamkang University in Taiwan, told VOA by phone.
Dong's appointment ends months-long speculation about who would succeed Li Shangfu, who disappeared from the public's view in August and is reportedly facing a corruption-related investigation, according to Reuters and the Financial Times.
It also comes after two top leaders of the PLA Rocket Force, which oversees the Chinese military's nuclear arsenal, were replaced by military commanders from other units.
Some experts say the series of purges in the Chinese military, which includes the removal of three leaders at key Chinese aerospace and defense firms from the Communist Party's top political advisory organ on Wednesday, shows that the corruption-related investigation targeting the Rocket Force is ongoing.
"China has a tradition of appointing generals from non-army backgrounds to the role of defense minister," Sung from Australian National University said, adding that commanders from technical agencies such as the PLA Rocket Forces are usually favored for the role.
"The fact that China forgoes the Rocket Force and the General Armament Department and appoints someone from the navy as the new defense minister may be a sign that there are ongoing investigations at the two pools," he told VOA.
Following the removal of the top leaders of the PLA Rocket Force in July, the Chinese government appointed Wang Houbin, former deputy commander of the navy, and Xu Xisheng, former political commissar of the air force's Southern Theater Command, as the new commander and political commissar of the Rocket Force.
Wu in Singapore says these appointments show that Chinese President Xi Jinping prioritizes loyalty over expertise, which defies the previous protocol of personnel appointments based on meritocracy. "The new reality is that personnel appointment in Xi's third term is always based on loyalty," he told VOA, adding that the emphasis he puts on loyalty would make the Chinese system more opaque and fragile.
As the U.S. tries to restart bilateral military dialogue with China, some experts say Dong's appointment would be a welcome signal to Washington. "[His appointment] is going to inject a level of stability and familiarity into the relationship," Lyle Morris, a senior fellow at Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis, told VOA by phone.
"The U.S. is very keen to get to know who this new leader is, what their background is, what their leadership style is and develop a relationship with him," he added.
While Dong's appointment could inject a sense of stability into China's military following a series of abrupt removals of top commanders in recent months, Wu in Singapore thinks the growing opaqueness in the Chinese system may continue in the near future.
"The lack of transparency in China is one of the reasons why the outside world has so much doubt in China," he told VOA. "There's going to be an increased skepticism in China from the outside."
