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New PLA commander for India border a veteran of Xinjiang, Vietnam war

Wang is the fourth commander to head Western Theatre Command since standoff started

wang indian army Wang Haijiang (right) in an exercise with the Indian Army in 2016 | Twitter handle of ministry of defence

Chinese President Xi Jinping has appointed General Wang Haijiang as the new commander of the People's Liberation Army's Western Theatre Command, which oversees the borders with India.

Wang was one of five People's Liberation Army officers promoted to general, Chinese state media reported on Monday.

Wang is the fourth commander to head the Western Theatre Command after the eastern Ladakh standoff began in May last year.

China’s Western Theatre Command oversees the Xinjiang and the Tibet Autonomous Regions, as well as the border with India, making it the largest geographical area under one command in the PLA.

Wang (58), who now heads the Western Theatre Command, earlier served as the head of the Tibet military district since December 2019. He also served in a number of positions, including Deputy Commander of South Xinjiang Military District, which oversees the Ladakh region.

Before his promotion to general, Wang was made the PLA's new commander in the restive Xinjiang province in August when he was a lieutenant-general. Wang's transfer to Xinjiang had triggered criticism from expatriate Uighur activists who alleged he would coordinate with local Communist party chief Chen Quanquo in repression of ethnic Uighur Muslims.

Ilshat Hassan, a Uighur activist told Radio Free Asia that Wang and Chen knew each other. “Wang’s arrival only means he’ll be instrumental in supporting Chen Quanguo’s genocidal policies against the Uighur people in East Turkestan... His arrival will bring nothing new except for further disaster," Hassan told Radio Free Asia.

In 2016, when he was a major general, Wang led a PLA contingent that participated in a counter-terrorism exercise with the Indian Army in Pune.

Wang had also served in the 1979 war with Vietnam, which forced the PLA to focus on modernisation.

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