The Reckoning That Has Chinese Officials Dropping Like Flies

The unit, China’s People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, steers China’s land-based nuclear and conventional ballistic missiles, hosting nine bases responsible for everything from missile tests to overseeing China’s central nuclear stockpile. And it’s not just the rocket force Xi is going after: The overhaul at the unit coincides with China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, dropping out from the public eye for several days, only to be replaced himself. Rumors Erupt in the Mysterious Vanishing of China’s Top DiplomatXi has long focused his anti-graft campaign on the military to solidify his power and to modernize the rocket force. Corruption has been a constant threat to the force through the years, according to Matt Bruzzese, a Chinese language analyst at BluePath Labs, which has studied the PLA’s rocket force. “Rocket force is the force that’s going to basically initiate an attack on Taiwan if he ever tries to attack.