China Ousts 4 Senior Military Commanders in Widening Purges

China has removed two top generals from its highest military command body and expelled two other senior commanders from a Communist Party-controlled legislature, as turbulence continues within the upper echelon of the country’s armed forces.

Once China’s No. 1 general, Zhang Youxia, has been removed from the national Central Military Commission (CMC), according to a brief statement issued by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee via state media Xinhua on Aug. 28.

The statement didn’t offer any reason for the swift dismissal of Zhang, who had served as vice chair of the national CMC since 2018.

Zhang, also a member of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) ruling Politburo, was abruptly placed under investigation in January, along with another senior commander, Liu Zhenli. Both men were accused of serious violations of discipline and laws, a phrase that generally refers to corruption or disloyalty. 

Liu was also stripped of his title as a member of the national CMC, according to Xinhua.

Technically, China has two separate CMCs—one affiliated with the state and the other within the CCP—sharing the same personnel and leadership. In practice, however, the Party’s CMC holds the real power. The two commanders haven’t been formally, or at least publicly, expelled from the Party’s military body. 

The latest announcement effectively reduced the CMC from six members to one, plus Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the top.  

China’s armed forces have been embroiled in an unprecedented purge that has almost vacated the leadership of every branch of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), raising questions about the military’s combat readiness.

A February report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated that more than 100 senior military commanders have likely been purged since 2022. 

Unlike the military chiefs previously targeted, Zhang and Liu are among the few active-duty generals in the country who have battlefield experience. Zhang served in China’s brief war with Vietnam in 1979, while Liu took part in border skirmishes with Vietnam in the 1980s.

Separately, the National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s rubber-stamped legislature that formally appoints senior state officials, revoked Zhang and Liu’s membership, according to Xinhua.

Because these officers were members of the legislature, they previously had legal protection against arrest or prosecution. By removing them from those positions, that protection was stripped away, opening them up to criminal prosecution.

According to China insiders who previously spoke to The Epoch Times, Beijing has already decided to charge Zhang, likely with corruption-related allegations, to shift attention away from the power struggle within the Party.

In addition to Zhang and Liu, the NPC on Aug. 28 revoked the membership of Zhong Shaojun, a long-time aide to Xi, according to Xinhua.

Zhong became Xi’s secretary in the early 2000s when Xi was transferred to a position in Zhejiang, China’s top economic powerhouse on the eastern coast. Since then, Zhong followed Xi into roles in Shanghai and, later, the central leadership in Beijing. 

After Xi took power as the Party leader in late 2012, Zhong was appointed to the CMC chairman’s office, working directly under Xi, and elevated to the military rank of senior colonel. 

Also expelled from the NPC on the same day was Ju Qiansheng, commander of the PLA Strategic Support Force. 

Xinhua did not provide reasons for their departure. 

The purge in the defense establishment shows no signs of abating. In an Aug. 24 notice, China’s military said it’s seeking information from the public on potential procurement violations in the Rocket Forces, a secretive PLA unit that commands the country’s conventional and nuclear missiles. 

This notice echoed a 2023 announcement by the PLA’s Equipment Development Department that encouraged citizens to report potential corruption and misconduct related to hardware procurement going back to October 2017. Since then, China has expelled two defense ministers and all four generals who had commanded the Rocket Forces.