Zhang Youxia is the most recent victim of a protracted military official purge.
BEIJING: The Defense Ministry announced on Saturday that the top general of the Chinese military is under investigation for alleged grave infractions of the law and discipline. The most recent victim of a protracted military official purge is Zhang Youxia, the senior of the two vice chairmen of the influential Central Military Commission. According to analysts, the purges are intended to guarantee allegiance to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who also serves as the military commission’s chair, as well as to restructure the armed forces.
Since Xi took office in 2012, more than 200,000 officials have been penalized as part of a larger anti-corruption campaign.
Currently being looked into
The ruling Communist Party of China has also opened an investigation against Liu Zhenli, another commission member, according to a statement from the Defense Ministry. Liu is the head of the Joint Staff Department of the commission. The commission is China’s highest military authority.
The alleged misconduct was not described in depth in the statement. Zhang, a 75-year-old general from the People’s Liberation Army’s ground forces, joined the organization in 1968. He Weidong, the other vice chair of the commission, was removed by the Communist Party in October of last year, and Zhang Shengmin, a commission member, took his position.
Charges of corruption
Due to allegations of corruption, the party removed two former defense ministers in 2024. On Friday, the Trump administration unveiled a new National Defense Strategy that acknowledged China as a military force that must be prevented from subjugating the United States or its allies. According to the plan, “this does not require regime change or some other existential struggle.”
“Rather, a decent peace is possible, on terms that are favorable to Americans but that China can also accept and live under.”
