Xi’s Abrupt Shake-Up of Nuclear Force’s Leaders Fans Speculation

In the years since China’s leader, Xi Jinping, transformed the People’s Liberation Army, one of his crowning creations has been the Rocket Force, the custodian of China’s expanding nuclear arsenal. The force, with its array of missiles and launch silos, embodied Mr. Xi’s ambitions to elevate his country as a respected, and feared, great power ready to counter American supremacy in the region.

But this week, Mr. Xi abruptly replaced the Rocket Force’s two top commanders with…