General Zhang Youxia’s fall has shaken elites in Beijing who pledge loyalty to Xi Jinping’s regime. The Chinese president turned against the man who, until now, served as Xi’s “eyes and ears” in the military
Confident, secure and not “afraid of talking to foreigners”. This is how General Zhang Youxia is described by those close to him, including Jake Sullivan, US national security advisor, who recently met with what was, until recently, one of President Xi Jinping’s closest allies.
Today, however, Zhang Youxia is the face of one of the biggest corruption scandals of the Chinese army in recent decades, being accused of “disrespecting” the authority of the military chief, Xi Jinping, and of “seriously undermining the party’s absolute leadership over the Armed Forces” – accusations made in an editorial about General Zhang in the Liberation Army Gazette, published on Sunday.
The news surprised everyone and everything, including those who thought they understood Xi Jinping’s thinking. Shanshan Mei, a political scientist at RAND, an organization that studies the Chinese Armed Forces, said that, despite the mention of corruption, “the essence of the accusation is very political: betraying Xi”.
In addition to the editorial, however, other accusations against Zhang emerged. According to the Wall Street Journal, Zhang is also accused of .
Jack Sullivan, who met in Beijing with General Zhang in 2024, in the presence of 20 other Chinese military officers, to discuss nuclear issues, said that, during the meeting, which lasted about an hour, the general mentioned nuclear weapons in the context of China’s general military strengthening, but did not say anything sensitive or even substantial about the subject. “This was not one of the main topics of discussion”, highlighted Sullivan, quoted by the New York Times.
According to Deng Yumen, former editor of a Chinese Communist Party newspaper, who now lives in the USA, the fall of General Zhang will have “a major impact on the power elite in Beijing, as it eliminates one of their security barriers”. “Not even Zhang Youxia’s personal relationship with Xi Jinping guaranteed his safety, so no one can feel safe.”
Jack Sullivan describes Zhang’s fall as “a seismic event”, especially considering that the Chinese president is “eliminating someone with whom he had a long history”.
A decorated combat veteran, Zhang Youxia was, until recently, considered the most trusted man in Xi Jinping’s armed forces (AP)
The relationship between Xi Jinping and General Zhang goes back several years. Both are crown princes, sons of revolutionaries who served under Mao Zedong. Zhang’s father served alongside Xi’s father, Xi Zhongxun, in China. It is not known whether Zhang and Xi were close in childhood, but, according to Joseph Torigian, author of a biography of Xi Jinping, this common point may have helped strengthen the bond between them.
According to the New York Times, General Zhang joined the Chinese army in late 1968, and later distinguished himself as a front-line officer during China’s war with Vietnam, starting in 1979.
When Xi came to power in 2012, he decided to promote a restructuring of the Armed Forces, which were “steeped in corruption and stuck in the past”, describes the New York Times. General Zhang was precisely one of the commanders chosen by Xi Jinping to lead this reform of the People’s Liberation Army.
In 2012, General Zhang, then head of a military region in China, was part of a delegation of senior Chinese military officers on a visit to the USA. Drew Thompson, who worked at the Pentagon at the time and helped organize the visit, recalls how Zhang appeared surprisingly confident and assured.
“He was not afraid to speak to foreigners, unlike some senior officers who were often afraid or unable to interact,” Thompson, in an article in which he said he was “genuinely surprised” by the announcement of General Zhang’s arrest.
Still in 2012, Zhang was promoted to head of the armaments department of the Chinese Armed Forces, the body responsible for purchasing weapons – a position he held until 2017. Daniel Mattingly, a professor at Yale University who studies Chinese military policy, explains to the New York Times that that department had everything to be “a real hotbed of corruption”, “perfect for receiving bribes”.
So much so that, according to the North American newspaper, other senior officers who worked in that department ended up being removed following anti-corruption investigations. General Zhang, in turn, seems to have passed through the raindrops.
At 75 years old, Zhang, in theory, would already be retired. Xi Jinping decided to keep him in office even after his retirement and named him his main vice-president of the Central Military Commission. In practice, explains the New York Times, Zhang acted as “Xi’s eyes and ears in the day-to-day management of the People’s Liberation Army forces.”
Theories and impact of General Zhang’s downfall for the US and Taiwan
Knowing all this, many are now trying to understand the reasons that led to General Zhang’s fall – some analysts believe that Xi began to think he was too powerful; others admit that the Chinese president wants to end systemic corruption in the Armed Forces and promote restructuring with a new generation of commanders.
The fall of General Zhang could have geopolitical impacts, warns Drew Thompson, who hoped, “for the sake of stable military relations between the US and China and cross-Strait stability”, that Zhang Youxia would continue to be Xi’s closest military advisor.
“I believe he was the only active-duty People’s Liberation Army officer capable of giving Xi the best and most objective advice about the People’s Liberation Army’s military capabilities, including its deficiencies and, crucially, the human cost of military conflict,” noted the former Pentagon official.
Furthermore, Drew Thompson added, Zhang was able to “objectively assess US and Taiwanese military capabilities and explain to Xi Jinping what the military risks and costs of an operation to take Taiwan would be.” “I worry about the consequences of someone other than Zhang Youxia providing military advice to Xi Jinping,” admits Thompson.
