Zhang Youxia, China’s top general, until now considered close to Chinese President Xi Jinping, has been placed under investigation in a new blow by Beijing’s anti-corruption machine. The Army accuses Zhang and Liu Zhenli, another top military commander, of undermining the authority of Xi, who is ultimately responsible for the country’s armed forces.
The investigations, announced on Saturday by the Ministry of Defense as an “anti-corruption” measure for alleged “serious violations of discipline and the law,” almost completely dismantle the Chinese military leadership. Zhang is the first vice president of (CMC, the highest Chinese military body), which places him as the country’s number two military officer, only preceded by Xi, while Liu is head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Department. His departure leaves the CMC with only two of the seven members it had: its president, Xi, and General Zhang Shengmin, in charge of the body that supervises disciplinary inspections against the military establishment.
Although the facts under investigation have not been released, an editorial published on Sunday by the official propaganda body, points out the accused with harsh words: “They seriously trampled and undermined the accountability system of the chairman of the Central Military Commission,” he asserts in reference to Xi Jinping. The expression “trample”, very unusual in this type of statement, suggests an implication that could even go beyond mere corruption. “They fueled and aggravated political and corruption problems that undermine the absolute leadership of the Party over the army and damage the basis of its Government,” adds the forceful text.
Zhang, 75, and Liu, 61, are decorated war heroes and the only CMC members with combat experience: both participated in the PLA campaigns against Vietnam in the late 1970s. Zhang has also played a key role in planning and executing the military modernization sought by Xi since he took office in 2012, especially following the military reform announced in 2015. The goal was to move the PLA away from the style model Soviet, focused on the army, and bring it closer to a structure inspired by the United States and optimized for joint operations, through the reorganization of the command structure.
The blow to the top of the leadership deepens the feeling of bewilderment in the face of what many analysts interpret as a purge of the military establishment unprecedented since the 1970s, a chaotic period under the leadership of the then. To date, all but one of the six generals designated by Xi to be part of the CMC in 2022 have been dismissed or placed under investigation.
In October, in another “anti-corruption” offensive, . Among them was He Weidong, also vice president of the CMC, and number three in the Army, who was expelled from the party and the PLA, and replaced by Zhang Shengmin, precisely the only one who, at this time, remains as a member of the highest military body, in addition to Xi.
As is often the case with opaque Chinese politics, no academic knows quite what exactly is going on. Several authoritative voices among PLA scholars have for months pointed to Xi’s attempts to put an end to divergent factions within the armed forces, strengthen his control over the promotion regime in the ranks, and ensure the future loyalty of the next generals.
He Wall Street Journal took a further step on Sunday that goes much further by assuring that Zhang would have been accused of leaking secrets of the Chinese nuclear program to the United States, information supported by anonymous sources “familiar” with the matter.
This accusation could in any case be an “excuse” to suspend Zhang, however, interprets Lin Ying-Yu, an assistant professor at Tamkang University (Taiwan), specialized in the capabilities of the Chinese army. “The most important reason is that Xi wants to maintain his power for the future, so he has to change the members of the CMC to allow the entry of young officers who follow his orders,” he writes in an exchange of messages with EL PAÍS.
Perhaps the big question is how all this shakeup affects China’s military capabilities, a field that numerous analysts study with an eye toward an eventual clash over Taiwan, the self-governed island that Beijing considers an inalienable part of its territory and to which the United States provides military aid.
“These investigations are very likely to cause short-term disruptions to the PLA’s operational effectiveness,” noted the Pentagon’s latest report on the Chinese military, published in December. “On the other hand, the PLA could emerge as a more competent fighting force in the future by taking advantage of the current campaign to eliminate the systemic problems that enable corruption.”
At the time of the Pentagon report’s publication, the case against Zhang was not yet known, but the US document dedicates an entire chapter to the cascade of dismissal cases, which has intensified since 2023. “Investigations into these corrupt leaders indicate that Beijing is pursuing a policy of zero tolerance for corruption and is willing to purge the military of what is considered disloyalty, regardless of the disruptive impact this may have on the PLA,” it concludes.
