Fears of World War III as Xi Jinping 'purges China's military and brings in generals willing to wage war in a way that could lead to an invasion of Taiwan and drag the US into a global conflict'

Xi Jingping is purging China's military and bringing in generals willing to go to war, a move that could lead to an invasion of Taiwan and drag the United States into World War III, military analysts say.

The Chinese leader, seen by many as a dictator, is “trying to gain control of the military,” Gordon Chang said Business insiderand added, “I think he thinks he needs officers who are willing to actually fight.”

According to Chang, author of “China Is Going to War,” Xi feels “many Chinese general officers do not want to fight.” As a result, he said, the Chinese premier sees “a force led by an officer corps that is ambivalent about waging war.”

China claims Taiwan as its territory, and fears that Xi is planning an invasion have grown in recent years, despite increasingly hostile rhetoric and simulated blockades of the island.

Beijing has never renounced the use of force to take over what it considers a breakaway province, and Xi has said unification is inevitable.

But Beijing has also been involved in low-level clashes with India along their shared border, as well as disputes over nearby islands with Japan and the Philippines.

China claims Taiwan as its territory, and fears that Xi is planning an invasion have grown in recent years, despite increasingly hostile rhetoric and simulated blockades of the island. But China has also been involved in other flashpoints. Pictured: Chinese soldiers take part in a simulated beach attack

Since coming to power in 2012, he has overhauled Beijing's armed forces with a series of reforms, while also downsizing its workforce, improving military-civilian cooperation and reforming its structure.

On December 29, 2023, he dismissed nine senior positions in one go, a move that analysts and US intelligence agencies said was aimed at rooting out corruption.

However, Chang told Business Insider that this theory misses the point, “because if that were the case, they would all be fired.” Instead, he believes it was likely that the fired officers were reluctant to go to war.

He pointed to one example: that of General Liu Yazhou of the Chinese Air Force, who warned of an invasion of Taiwan.

In February 2022, he received a suspended death sentence.

Joel Wuthnow, another China expert, told Business Insider that the moves suggest Xi is “concerned about the quality of the people and equipment he has invested in over the past decade” and that he fears he can't keep up with his military to trust.

The publication reported that the nine dismissed commanders had been involved with China's Rocket Force, which Wuthnow said would play a crucial role in any military campaign ordered by Beijing.

China has been hostile towards its neighbors in recent years.

The country has become increasingly aggressive in the South China Sea, with its navy often coming into close contact with Philippine ships.

Military officers and delegates wearing face masks leave after attending the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, March 3. Xi has purged military commanders in a move experts say is aimed at ridding his armed forces of leaders. who do not like to go to war

Beijing has also clashed with Japan over the disputed Senkaku Islands, using its fishing industry to bolster its claim.

There have also been clashes between China and India in the Galwan Valley in the Himalayas, with soldiers clashing with melee weapons.

In 2021, China admitted to losing four of its troops in the fighting.

But perhaps the most worrying flashpoint is Taiwan, which just elected a new president on Saturday who opposes reunification with China.

China has breached Taiwan's air defense zone several times in the past five years, raising fears that an invasion was on the horizon.

In September 2023, the Chinese military conducted its largest maritime war simulation ever. It included Beijing's aircraft carrier Shandong and 20 other warships, while dozens of warplanes breached Taiwan's airspace.

However, Chang told Business Insider that it is impossible to predict where a major flare-up might come from first, even as Xi has stepped up his bellicose rhetoric.

In his New Year's address to the nation, Xi said that China “will certainly be reunited, and all Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should be bound by a common goal and share in the glory of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” '

Xi also reportedly informed US President Joe Biden of his intention to take Taiwan.

However, Wuthnow said the Chinese leader is now more cautious about any attack on the island following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

He has seen how the war has shaken fellow autocrat Vladimir Putin's position in Russia and the West's support for Kiev.

China has been hostile to its neighbors in recent years, with flashpoints around Taiwan, the South China Sea and on China's border with India.

But Chang warned that all the conditions are in place for World War III, with the conflict spreading across multiple fronts around the world.

He pointed to Ukraine, Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, along with military activity in the Read Sea (and fears that the conflict could spread into the Middle East), as well as uprisings in Africa.

Chang pointed to the build-up to World War II in the 1930s and how separate wars coalesced into what we now know as World War II.

“The same dynamics exist today, and it is entirely possible, and some people might even argue that it is likely, that these will culminate in a global conflict,” he said, predicting that a conflict in East Asia would challenge Western countries carried away.