XI’S GOTTA HAVE IT: With Purge, Xi’s Military Control Rises—and so Do the Region’s Risks.
The investigation of the officers, Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, marks one of the most consequential political military purges in China’s armed forces in decades. Zhang, a Politburo member and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Liu, chief of staff of the commission’s Joint Staff Department, sat at the apex of China’s military system. Their sudden removal for alleged disciplinary and legal violations has hollowed out the military’s most important governing body and no doubt shaken the armed forces’ senior leadership.
The immediate effect is stark. The seven-member Central Military Commission has been effectively reduced to just two figures—Xi Jinping himself and political commissar Zhang Shengmin.
Zhang Youxia’s downfall is particularly striking. Long viewed as untouchable, he was a red aristocrat with revolutionary pedigree, deep personal ties to Xi, and rare combat experience. He was among the oldest senior commanders to have fought in China’s 1979 war with Vietnam. Unlike much of today’s Chinese military leadership, whose experience is shaped overwhelmingly by exercises, simulations and political work, Zhang had seen the realities of combat. He was widely regarded by observers as one of the few generals who was likely capable of telling Xi what he needed to hear, not simply what the party leader wanted to hear.
With this move, Xi has reinforced a central truth of Chinese civil-military relations: the military is not a national army; it is the armed wing of the Communist Party and ultimately an instrument of Xi’s personal authority. The purge confirms that no pedigree, no combat record and no past loyalty confer immunity when control is at stake.
Exit quote: “A military preoccupied with internal discipline campaigns, loyalty checks and political rectification is unlikely to press aggressively for major external operations. Over time, however, the risks begin to accumulate.”
Stay tuned…
