Hong Kong, Feb. 3 -- Chairman Xi Jinping's decision to arrest two of the most senior People's Liberation Army (PLA) leaders - Generals Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli - continues to reverberate. It has stirred debate over the operational capability of China's military, and whether Xi would dare trust it to invade Taiwan.

The detention of the two PLA figures was announced on 24 January. Zhang was a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), its highest uniformed member and due to retire next year. Naturally, Zhang should not be romanticized as being a moderate, for people do not rise to the top of the PLA by being "nice". Liu, meanwhile, was Chief of Staff of the Joint Staff Department and a regular CMC member.

With just two mem...