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Trishul Defence Academy 
Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is sitting on Indian soil in Eastern Ladakh, is finding his dream very heavy. The People’s Liberation Army of China has deployed about 50,000 soldiers along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. But living in a place with severe cold and low oxygen is proving fatal. Many Chinese soldiers are suffering from stomach related diseases. Meanwhile, 58-year-old Chinese military commander General Zhang Xudong, former chief of the Western Theater Command of the Chinese Army, died last Friday.
This information has been given in the report of South China Morning Post. Chinese state media has not yet officially confirmed the death. But the South China Morning Post report said that General Zhang was suffering from cancer and gastrointestinal problems. Chinese President Xi Jinping also made a reshuffle regarding the Western Theater Command.
The Western Theater Command is one of the five theater commands in the Chinese military. It covers areas of the border with India in Xinjiang, Tibet and the Himalayas. The report outlines the health risks faced by Zhang and his successors in this high altitude area. It said that the soldiers stationed here have to face low oxygen, low temperature and high altitude. The leadership of the Western Theater Command has been changed three times in the last nine months. Zhang was made the head of the Western Theater Command.
On 23 December 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping, head of the Central Military Commission (CMC), appointed Zhang as the commander of the army’s largest theater command. This appointment was made six months after the Galwan Valley clash, in which 20 Indian soldiers were martyred. In June this year, Zhang resigned from his position and was given a position on the CMC’s Strategic Planning Committee. He was replaced as commander of the Western Theater Command by General Xu Qiling, who had previously been the head of the Eastern Theater Command.
At the same time, two months later, Zhang also left his post and was replaced by Wang Haijiang. A source told the South China Morning Post that Xu, like Zhang, was suffering from gastric problems. The source said, Xu Killing also had some problems related to his gastrointestinal tract, so he left his post two months after joining the Western Theater Command. The working conditions are difficult in the Western Theater Command with low oxygen, low temperature, high altitude, the report said. Because of this, heart diseases are also increasing among soldiers.
