Top retired Chinese general Xu Qiliang dies of illness: state media
BEIJING (Reuters) -Top Chinese general Xu Qiliang, a close ally of President Xi Jinping who was the former vice chair of the powerful Central Military Commission, died of illness at age 75 on Monday in Beijing, state media reported.
Xu served two consecutive terms on the Communist Party's highest military command body between 2012 and 2022, as Xi came to power. Before that, he spent decades in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) air force, rising to Air Force Commander in 2007 after a stint in the PLA General Staff Department.
Xu was described as an "outstanding member of the Communist Party" and an "outstanding leader of the People's Liberation Army" in a short obituary published on Monday by state news agency Xinhua.
He was the first Central Military Commission (CMC) vice chair not to have been from the land forces, a sign of Beijing's growing emphasis on different branches of the military as the PLA pursues combat integration and modernisation.
He emerged seemingly unscathed by the anti-corruption campaign targeting the highest ranks of the PLA soon after Xi came into office, which took down his predecessors Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong, both vice-chairs of the CMC.
China's military has undergone a renewed anti-corruption purge since last year, with over a dozen PLA generals including two former defence ministers and a serving CMC member, Miao Hua, removed or suspended from their posts.
Born into a peasant family in eastern China's Shandong province, Xu joined the PLA in 1966 at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, a decade-long period of turmoil spearheaded by Mao Zedong.
He was a strong advocate of military modernisation, helping transform the air force from a reliance on outdated equipment to domestically developed stealth fighters and amphibian assault ships.
Xu was commander of an air force unit in Fuzhou, Fujian province, while Xi was the city's Communist Party chief in the early 1990s. It is during this period that the men were reported to have become close.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time Magazine
19 minutes ago
- Time Magazine
How Doubling Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum Will Hit U.S. Businesses and Consumers
Canned foods, cars, houses, and a range of other goods could soon get more expensive as businesses face a newly doubled tariff rate of 50% for steel and aluminum imports. President Donald Trump described the increase, which raised the levies from the 25% rate announced in February beginning on Wednesday, as an effort to 'further secure the steel industry in the United States' during a Friday rally at a steel mill in Pittsburgh, Penn.—once the heart of the domestic steel industry. But while American steel industry groups have hailed the tariff hike, economic experts have sounded alarms, saying it could further disrupt the already-volatile global supply chain and put more strain on businesses—and Americans' wallets. 'Consumers will have to pay the price,' says Virginia Tech economics professor David Beiri. 'The continued uncertainty that is created by the government is poisoning business plans.' How will steel and aluminum tariff hikes impact businesses? The United States is highly reliant on steel imports, bringing in more of the material from abroad than any other country in the world, according to the International Trade Administration. More than 26 million metric tons of steel were imported last year, most of which came from Brazil, Canada, Mexico, South Korea, and China. 'We are equally dependent on aluminum,' says Jonathan Colehower, managing director at consulting company UST. The domestic steel industry has voiced support for the increased tariffs, saying they will help it weather increased competition from foreign steel manufacturers. 'Chinese steel exports to the world have more than doubled since 2020, surging to 118 million MT in 2024—more than total North American steel production,' the American Iron and Steel Institute, one of several trade associations representing the American steel industry, said in a statement after Trump announced the higher rate. 'This tariff action will help prevent new surges in imports that would injure American steel producers and their workers.' But experts worry about the industry's ability to meet increased demand as businesses, facing the additional import costs, seek cheaper alternatives for their products. While the U.S. once dominated the steel industry, the boom has died down in the last century. 'With domestic capacity not necessarily being able to produce what we might need…there is going to be a transitory effect,' says Beiri, referring to the adjustment period the steel industry will have to navigate as the supply chain changes. Colehower says the domestic steel supply may tighten as a result of the increased tariffs, which could cause domestic prices to rise amid high demand. 'There's absolutely no way it's going to be able to make up the difference immediately,' he says of the domestic steel industry. The Aluminum Association, a trade group that represents both U.S.-based and foreign companies, said it supports tariff-free Canadian aluminum, pointing to the American aluminum industry's reliance on the country's northern neighbor. 'Aluminum is a critical material for our economy and national defense – used in everything from cars to beverage cans to fighter jets. Today, the United States is investing significantly and will need both smelted and recycled aluminum to meet growing demand,' the association said. 'In the years if not decades it will take to build new U.S. smelter capacity, our metal needs must be met by importing.' How will the higher tariffs impact the prices of goods? Steel and aluminum are used in various products, from beer cans and office supplies to automobiles—the prices for all of which are likely to rise as a result of the doubled import taxes. The Can Manufacturers Institute, the trade association of the metal can manufacturing industry, opposed the tariff increase in a statement after Trump announced the coming change in the rate, saying it would 'further increase the cost of canned goods at the grocery store.' The can manufacturing industry imports nearly 80% of its tin-mill steel from foreign countries. 'Doubling steel tariffs will inflate domestic canned food prices, and it plays into the hands of China and other foreign canned food producers, which are more than happy to undercut American farmers and food producers,' the trade association said. Beer companies and other beverage businesses are also set to be impacted. The real estate and construction industries, both of which use steel to build homes, warehouses, and other structures will be footing a bigger bill, as well, Colehower says. He predicts businesses such as Lowe's and Home Depot, the latter of which vowed before the tariff hike that it would not be increasing the cost of its goods, will be severely affected. Farm equipment and transportation vehicles, including cars, bicycles, and others, will also likely cost more as a result of the new tariff rate, Colehower says. Some companies could seek to adjust their business models in the face of increased costs. Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey, for instance, said in February that the company would consider making more beverages in plastic bottles to offset aluminum price hikes under the tariffs announced that month. Negotiations over the tariffs are ongoing between the U.S. and its trading partners, several of which have expressed ire at the increased import taxes. Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, called the steel tariffs a 'direct attack on Canadian workers.' A European Commission official on Friday said the decision 'adds further uncertainty to the global economy and increases costs for consumers and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.' The U.K. has been spared from the tariff hike; Mexico announced Wednesday that it plans to ask for a similar exemption. Canada, Mexico, and the European Union were previously exempt from steel and aluminum tariffs Trump imposed during his first term in 2016, but are subject to the current levies.
Fox News
19 minutes ago
- Fox News
Spy surge sparks Trump visa crackdown on Chinese students
The Trump administration has intensified its scrutiny of Chinese nationals studying at U.S. universities after several instances in recent years of students from the communist country engaging in alleged surreptitious activity while in the United States. The incidents, which have involved allegations of espionage, conspiracy and misleading federal officials, occurred as a result of Chinese nationals or others with Chinese ties participating in joint education programs between the United States and China. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security plan to "aggressively revoke" student visas of Chinese nationals, "including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party." A Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson blasted the new policy in a statement Thursday on X, saying the move was "fully unjustified" and damaging to the United States' reputation. "Citing ideology and national security as a pretext, the move seriously hurts the lawful rights and interests of international students from China and disrupts people-to-people exchanges between the two countries," spokesperson Lin Jian said. Nearly 300,000 Chinese nationals have student visas in the United States. It is unclear if the State Department plans to target all of them or only some. Fox News Digital reached out to the department for clarity. Below is a look at some recent incidents involving Chinese nationals at universities. The DOJ brought charges against five University of Michigan students last year after a sergeant major encountered them at Camp Grayling in 2023. The students had cameras with them and were discovered as the U.S. National Guard was conducting a massive training operation at the site with Taiwanese military members, according to a complaint. They were all Chinese nationals attending the University of Michigan as part of the school's joint program with a Shanghai-based university, an FBI official wrote in the complaint, noting some of them had taken photos of Camp Grayling's military installations and operations. The FBI asked the court to issue arrest warrants for the students for making false statements and destroying records. Two Chinese nationals who were graduate students at the University of Michigan pleaded guilty in 2020 after they were caught illegally entering and photographing defense infrastructure at a naval air station in Key West, Florida. Fengyun Shi, a Chinese national studying at the University of Minnesota, was convicted in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia last year of unlawfully using a drone to take photos of naval bases in Norfolk, Virginia. Shi was sentenced to six months in prison and a year of supervised release, and the Biden administration revoked his visa in response to the charges. ICE announced in May that it deported him to China. While not a Chinese national, Charles Lieber, former chair of Harvard's chemistry department, was convicted in 2021 of making false statements to authorities and failing to report income from his work with China's Wuhan University of Technology and a contract he had with China's Thousand Talents Program. Ji Chaoqun, a Chinese national and one-time student at the Illinois Institute of Technology, was sentenced to eight years in prison after he was convicted by a jury in 2022 of attempting to commit espionage and theft of trade secrets. Ji was found to have gathered information on defense contractors, engineers and others as part of a broader effort by high-level Chinese intelligence officials to obtain inside access to U.S. technology advancements. Rubio's announcement also comes after Harvard filed a lawsuit alleging the Trump administration improperly banned all foreign nationals from the Ivy League school by revoking its student visa certification. A judge temporarily blocked the administration from carrying out the ban as the case plays out in the courts. ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons told Harvard in a letter made public through court filings that the revocation was a result of the alleged prevalence of antisemitism on campus but also a result of the administration's "serious concerns" that the university has "coordinated with the Chinese Communist Party." Lyons cited several examples, including Harvard accepting $151 million from foreign donors since 2020, working with "China-based academics" on projects funded by an "Iranian government agent," partnering with Chinese universities and using public funds to do so and collaborating with people "linked to China's defense-industrial base." "This coordination is a valid and substantive reason for withdrawing Harvard University's [Student Exchange Visitor Program] certification to enroll foreign students," Lyons wrote. Harvard attorneys argued during a court hearing Thursday that the Trump administration did not give the university a chance to rebut the claims about antisemitism and CCP ties before the foreign student ban was enacted. The administration agreed to give Harvard one month to respond to those claims while the ban remains on hold.
Fox News
20 minutes ago
- Fox News
Chinese official claims no knowledge of fungus situation, says China requires citizens ‘abide by local laws'
A Chinese embassy official said Wednesday he was unaware of the case involving two Chinese nationals charged with smuggling a "dangerous biological pathogen" into the U.S. for university research. "I don't know the specific situation, but I would like to emphasize that the Chinese government has always required overseas Chinese citizens to abide by local laws and regulations and will also resolutely safeguard their legitimate rights and interests," said Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Embassy in the U.S. The statement came after University of Michigan research fellows Yunqing Jian and Zunyong Liu – who are also boyfriend and girlfriend – were charged with smuggling Fusarium graminearum fungus into the U.S. within the jurisdiction of the Eastern District of Michigan. Fusarium graminearum is considered a "potential agroterrorism weapon" by the Justice Department and can cause noxious "head blight" on cereal grain crops. The fungus causes $1 billion in global damage to crops each year, according to the feds. The FBI is conducting the investigation along with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. While Liu appeared to deny knowledge of the case, Jian allegedly received funding from the CCP for her work on the fungus inside China. China was also determined by several entities to be the culprit for the release of the coronavirus pathogen that caused a global pandemic in 2020. FBI Director Kash Patel said the fungus involved poses a serious national security threat to the domestic food supply. CBP Director of Field Operations Marty Raybon said the criminal charges levied against Jian and Liu "are indicative of CBP's critical role in protecting the American people from biological threats that could devastate our agricultural economy and cause harm to humans…" The University of Michigan also responded to the incident, saying that "as one of the world's leading public research institutions, [it] is dedicated to advancing knowledge, solving challenging problems and improving nearly every facet of the human experience. Our research enterprise across all three campuses is united in this commitment to serving the people of Michigan and the world." "We strongly condemn any actions that seek to cause harm, threaten national security or undermine the university's critical public mission," the university said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital. "It is important to note that the university has received no funding from the Chinese government in relation to research conducted by the accused individuals. We have and will continue to cooperate with federal law enforcement in its ongoing investigation and prosecution."
