Xu Qiliang, the former deputy chairman of the Central Military Commission died on Monday in Beijing aged 75, state media reported.
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Xu, an air force general, was deputy chief of the PLA general staff and commander of the air force and also served as vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) between 2012 and 2022.
He was the first vice-chairman of the CMC, the main command body of the People’s Liberation Army, who did not come from the land army, symbolising the Chinese military’s greater emphasis on different branches of the armed forces.
In an obituary, state news agency Xinhua described Xu as “an outstanding leader of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army”.
Born into a peasant family in the eastern province of Shandong, Xu joined the air force at the age of 16 and took part in a flyover of Tiananmen Square to mark the 35th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1984.
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