The Chinese Communist Party recently drummed up praises for a late general who had remained a staunch supporter of the CPC even after being stripped of his duties, raising speculation that President Xi Jinping was working to secure the army’s loyalty amid growing worries of civil unrest.

A high-profile symposium was held on Wednesday to commemorate what would have been the 100th birthday of Yang Baibing, who was removed from all his duties in China’s top military body in 1992 by Deng Xiaoping. Yang had been secretary-general for the Chinese Military Commission and director of the People’s Liberation Army general political department prior to being stripped of his duties.

During the symposium, the commission’s vice chairperson, Zhang Youxia, praised Yang for always supporting the party’s leadership even amid a complicated international landscape brought about by the fall of the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc.

PLA personnel should follow the faith and political integrity displayed by Yang and firmly listen to the command of Xi, the party and the commission, Zhang said.

The Communist Party recognized the importance of the PLA now that China faced not only military threats from multiple nations but also isolation by the international community, said Wu Qiang, a former politics lecturer from Tsinghua University.

The army was the party’s last resort to prevent dissent in the vein of Hong Kong’s protests from breaking out across the mainland, Wu said.

The decision to praise Yang — a contentious military figure — showed that Xi wanted to ensure the army’s absolute loyalty to the party.

The late general courted controversy by placing “the army over the party” when he launched a propaganda campaign to rally for China’s reform and opening up in the early 1990s, Wu said.

Yang was the younger brother of former president Yang Shangkun, who was in office under Deng in the 1980s.

Yang Baibing came under fierce attack in the early 1990s from a group led by the deputy head of the party’s general office, Zeng Qinghong. He was accused of calling commission meetings on his own and of revealing Deng’s role in opening fire at protesters during the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Yang Baibing officially retired in 1993, one year after being stripped of all his duties.

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