This week's mainland press reports of President Jiang Zemin's inspection tour of the Second Artillery Unit, the controller of China's nuclear weapons system, shows he is consolidating his grip on the armed forces, according to analysts.
Mr Jiang's visits are part of a round of national conferences taking place in the run-up to the 16th Communist Party congress in October when the leadership of the Central Military Commission will be reshuffled.
Mr Jiang is expected to retain the chairmanship of the powerful body. He needs the military's backing to promote a younger group of PLA commanders and to build support for his drive to push the party further away from orthodox Marxist-Leninism.
The PLA had been ordered by the Politburo to intensify its study of Mr Jiang's Theory of the Three Representatives - which holds that the party must represent the foremost production forces, the most advanced culture and the interests of the masses - in preparation for the party congress.
Mr Jiang pushed for a 17.6 per cent increase in the defence budget to 166 billion yuan (HK$156 billion) at this year's National People's Congress when PLA delegates talked openly about how soldiers were poorly paid and housed.
To drive home Mr Jiang's ideological agenda, mainland media reports on Wednesday elevated him to a stature equal to that of Chairman Mao Zedong.