China Removes 9 Senior Officers as Military Purges Escalate

The Chinese regime has expelled nine senior military leaders from its legislature controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), adding to signs that turbulence continues within the upper echelon of the country’s armed forces.

Li Qiaoming, former commander of the ground forces, was stripped of his membership at the National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s rubber-stamp legislature, according to state media outlet Xinhua.

Li was among the five commanders holding the rank of full general who were removed from the nation’s top legislature on Feb. 26. According to state media, one lieutenant general and three major generals were also ousted.

No reason was given for their dismissals.

The announcement comes amid an unprecedented purge in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) that has led to the downfall of dozens of high-ranking officers, including some of the country’s most senior generals.

The CCP is known for its opacity, but its controlled armed forces are even more secretive, especially amid a political cleansing that has raised questions about its leadership stability. In recent months, Beijing has increasingly delayed disclosing purges of its senior military officers.

Among the senior commanders who were ousted on Feb. 26 were Qin Shengxiang, former political commissar of the navy; Yu Zhongfu, former political commissar of the air force; Shen Jinlong, former commander of the navy; and Li Wei, former political commissar of the information support force.

The other PLA officers expelled by Beijing include Ding Laifu of the ground force, Yang Guang of the rocket force, Bian Ruifeng of the Central Military Commission, and former political commissar of the National Defense Mobilization Commission Wang Donghai.

The announcement comes less than a week before the NPC’s annual session—China’s biggest political gathering—scheduled to begin on March 5. Over the following two weeks, about 2,800 delegates are set to rubber-stamp a slate of budgets, legislation, and personnel changes that have already been approved by the ruling CCP.

Analysts are now closely monitoring any signs of personnel changes during the upcoming session, particularly concerning the fates of the country’s most senior military chiefs, Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli.

Beijing has offered few details about the reasons for their sudden downfall since the brief announcement on Jan. 24 that the two generals had been placed under investigation for “serious violations of discipline and law.” Should they be removed from the legislature during this session, they would lose immunity from criminal prosecution.

Ahead of the latest round of dismissals, 27 military officers had already lost their NPC titles since March 2023, the highest number in any delegation, according to a Feb. 23 report by the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.

The ongoing purges of the PLA’s top brass have already raised questions about the military’s modernization efforts, a transformation the regime has invested billions of dollars in achieving by 2027.

In an annual survey published on Feb. 24, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said ongoing purges have left the PLA with “serious deficiencies” in its command structure.

More than 100 senior PLA officers—who hold the rank of general or lieutenant general—have likely been purged since 2022, according to a tally by the China Power Project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“And it’s not clear that [Chinese leader] Xi Jinping is done with his purges,” Bonny Lin, director of the China Power Project, said at a Feb. 24 webinar. “These purges have touched every part of the PLA.”