If China watchers had any lingering doubts about the identity of Peking's rising stars, last week's events should have completely dispelled them. Teng Hsiao-ping, 70, already a party vice chairman and the government's first Vice Premier, was given the powerful, long-vacant post of Chief of Staff of the army. Chang Chun-chiao, 64, a Vice Premier, became the army's political commissar, a post once held by none other than Mao Tse-tung.
With the new appointments, China took another giant step toward consolidating the governmental and military leadership that was almost completely decimated by...