Big Daddy Xi: Chinese president assumes new military title

Chinese President Xi Jinping has taken the new title of commander in chief of the People’s Liberation Army’s Joint Operations Command Centre, underlining the strength of his leadership as he takes a more direct role in running the world’s largest army.

Dressed in combat fatigues with the emblem of the new facility, Mr Xi visited the joint battle command centre which is said to be at a secret location underground in the western suburbs of Beijing.

He told the officers to “closely follow the trends of global military revolution and strive to build a joint battle command system that meets the need of fighting and winning an informationised war,” the official Xinhua news agency reported.

He urged officers to be ready to change their ideas, to innovate and face difficulties to build a joint battle command system that was “absolutely loyal, resourceful in fighting, efficient in commanding and courageous and capable of winning wars”.

It’s the first time the president, who has been in power since 2012, has appeared in camouflaged uniform and the visit was a powerful symbol of how he has consolidated power in the Chinese leadership.

He adds the new title to a list that includes president, general secretary of the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, a party body.

He is also chairman of the National Security Council, a new organisation which gives him control over the domestic security services.

Mr Xi is enormously popular in China because of his high-profile anti-corruption campaign and the perception of him as a powerful leader. Some of the PLA's top officers have been among the victims of the graft crackdown.

He is referred to as “Xi Dada”, which basically translates as “Big Daddy Xi” and some believe a cult of personality around him is growing fast.

He has also overseen a more aggressive foreign policy, especially in the disputed areas of the South China Sea, which China claims as its own and where Beijing has built artificial islands to underline its claims and has tried to pare back US influence in the region.

He has been quick to deal with all forms of dissent.

Last month saw the publication of an anonymous letter, ostensibly from Communist Party members, calling for his resignation, and his extended family was named in the Panama Papers as having links to offshore firms and vast wealth.

The centre comes under the direct command of the Central Military Commission. The People’s Liberation Army is the world’s largest with 2.3 million members.

Mr Xi has set out to modernise the PLA, cutting 300,000 jobs, shifting emphasis away from ground forces to missile corps, the navy and the air force, and rejuvenated its Soviet-style command structure by restructuring it into five theatre commands aimed at better integrating the different services.

Last September he staged a major parade in Beijing to showcase the military’s latest equipment.