China's most senior general, Zhang Youxia, a long-time ally of President Xi Jinping, has been placed under investigation for 'suspected serious violations of discipline and law', plunging the military leadership into turmoil. The defence ministry announced on Saturday that Zhang and Liu Zhenli, chief of staff of the Central Military Commission's joint staff department, were under investigation.
An editorial in the army newspaper Liberation Army Daily on Sunday stated that Zhang and Liu had 'seriously betrayed the trust and expectations' of the Communist party and the Central Military Commission, and 'fostered political and corruption problems that undermined the party's absolute leadership over the military'. The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with a high-level briefing, that Zhang was accused of leaking information about China's nuclear weapons programme to the US and accepting bribes for official acts, including the promotion of an officer to defence minister. The Guardian could not independently verify these reports.
Zhang, 75, is joint vice-chairperson of the Central Military Commission, second only to Xi in the military command structure. He is a member of the elite politburo and one of the few leading officers with combat experience, having fought in the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese border war. Xi retained Zhang past the normal retirement age, indicating a high level of trust that has now been broken.
The investigation is part of a broader anti-corruption crackdown ordered by Xi in 2012, which reached the upper echelons of the People's Liberation Army in 2023 when the elite Rocket Force was targeted. Of the seven men appointed to the Central Military Commission at the 20th party congress in 2022, only Xi and the anti-graft officer Zhang Shengmin remain untouched by corruption investigations. Co-vice chair He Weidong was expelled from the party and PLA in October last year for corruption.
Foreign diplomats and security analysts are closely watching the developments, given Zhang's closeness to Xi and the importance of the commission's work in command and military modernisation. The purge raises questions about the stability of China's military leadership at a time when it is under scrutiny over its readiness and willingness to launch an assault on Taiwan, which could bring it into conflict with the US. Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia programme at Defense Priorities, said the purge 'raises larger issues about political stability in a rising, nuclear superpower'.
