Beidaihe Power Struggle Intensifies — Purging Miao Hua’s Remaining Influence, Yang Youbin Suddenly Dismissed

In the midst of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership’s Beidaihe meeting, on August 11 the State Council announced a round of personnel changes.(Free Images)

[People News] In the midst of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership’s Beidaihe meeting, on August 11 the State Council announced a round of personnel changes, including the dismissal of Yang Youbin from his position as Vice Minister of Veterans Affairs. Yang had worked for more than two years with Miao Hua, the former member of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and Director of the CMC Political Work Department, who fell from power last year. Analysts believe that removing Yang at this sensitive time signals that the purge of Miao Hua’s lingering influence in the military is intensifying.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security announced the new appointments and dismissals on Monday (August 11), including Yang’s removal.

Public records show Yang Youbin, born in 1968, is a delegate to the CCP’s 20th National Congress. He previously served as Political Commissar of a Red Army division in the former 54th Group Army, Deputy Director of the Political Department of the Central Theater Army’s 83rd Group Army, Director of the Political Department of the 82nd Group Army, and Political Commissar of the Eastern Theater Army’s 72nd Group Army. In December 2019, he was promoted to the rank of Major General.

In 2018, the State Council established the Ministry of Veterans Affairs by merging relevant responsibilities from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and the CMC Political Work Department. The first “uniformed vice minister” was then-Assistant Director of the CMC Political Work Department Fang Yongxiang, who later became Deputy Political Commissar of the Southern Theater Command and its Army Political Commissar, and then Director of the CMC General Office.

Yang Youbin was the second “uniformed vice minister.” According to official information in July 2022, Yang was serving as Assistant Director of the CMC Political Work Department and Vice Minister of Veterans Affairs. At a ministry leadership meeting in March this year, state media reported that Yang ranked first among the four vice ministers.

During this period, Yang’s main superior was Miao Hua. From September 2017, Miao served as Director of the CMC Political Work Department, and the following month became a CMC member, holding power for over seven years and controlling the assessment and promotion of military cadres.

In June this year, Miao was removed from his post as a CMC member. In July, the CMC issued a document requiring a thorough purge of his negative influence and the rebuilding of the image and authority of political officers.

The Lianhe Zaobao reported that Ding Shufan, Honorary Professor at the Institute of East Asian Studies, National Chengchi University in Taiwan, said that although the document did not directly name Miao Hua as the source of “toxic influence,” it was clearly referring to him. This suggests that Miao’s misconduct may have been far more serious than imagined, with toxicity on par with that of Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong.

At the August 1 (Army Day) 98th Anniversary reception held by the Ministry of National Defense on July 31, no representatives from the CMC Political Work Department appeared at the main table. This included General He Hongjun, Executive Deputy Director of the department and a 20th Central Committee member, who had worked with Miao in the department for more than seven years.

Exiled liberal legal scholar Professor Yuan Hongbing previously revealed to The Epoch Times that after Miao’s arrest, he implicated a large number of CCP military officers, causing widespread panic in the armed forces.

Ding Shufan believes that the CMC Political Work Department is currently one of the main targets of military purges. “Senior officers who had close dealings with Miao, especially during his tenure as Director, are likely to be investigated.”

Su Ziyun, Director of the Institute for National Defense and Security Research’s Division of Strategic and Resource Studies in Taiwan, told The Epoch Times recently that Xi Jinping had promoted Miao Hua to oversee political work in the CMC, and Miao’s downfall shows that Xi’s chosen appointees are not necessarily reliable.

Previous leaks suggested that Miao’s case would be finalized during the Beidaihe meeting and announced at the Fourth Plenary Session. Du Zheng wrote in Taiwan’s Up Media that the CCP would address both Miao Hua’s and CMC Vice Chairman He Weidong’s cases at the Beidaihe meeting, with inevitable clashes between factions.

The sudden removal of Yang Youbin at this moment shows that factional struggles at Beidaihe are fierce, and the purge of Xi Jinping’s allies and Miao Hua’s remaining loyalists in the military is underway.