In recent years, China’s party leadership has removed dozens of officers, defense officials and defense ministers. Now it has affected the country’s highest-ranking generals.
01/27/2026, 05:2101/27/2026, 05:43
Fabian Kretschmer, Seoul, Bojan Stula / ch media
A spokesman for the Beijing Defense Ministry confirmed over the weekend what most China experts have already speculated about: Zhang Youxia, the country’s highest-ranking general, is being investigated for “serious violations of party discipline and laws” (Watson reported).
Liu Zhenli, also a member of the Communist Party’s Military Commission, was also hit. The official daily newspaper of the People’s Liberation Army said in cumbersome bureaucratic language that Zhang Youxia had “massively violated and undermined the chairman’s accountability system.”
Does he feel threatened at the top of China? Ruler Xi Jinping. Image: keystone
Western media sees it differently. According to an exclusive report in the Wall Street Journal, Youxia is actually accused of being a spy and of leaking nuclear secrets to the United States. At the same time, Chinese opposition media spread the rumor that China’s military leadership was about to overthrow Xi Jinping in a coup, which the head of state and party leader was able to prevent at the last moment.
What is actually true cannot be said with any precision at this point in time. Many experts consider both the nuclear espionage and the alleged coup to be nonsense. But whatever the cause, it is a purge of unprecedented proportions. In recent years, Xi Jinping has already fired hundreds of officers, removed two defense ministers and fired several executives from defense companies. These often involved serious corruption scandals, including the leadership of the notorious missile forces.
But this time the top power center of the People’s Liberation Army, which Xi had previously selected himself and promoted to the highest positions, has apparently been eliminated: Of the once seven-member military commission, only two are left – one of whom is Xi Jinping himself.
Invasion of Taiwan impossible for now?
The possible effects of the wave of purges are being actively discussed in international analyst circles. “As long as the command structure at central points is so compromised, I highly doubt that the People’s Liberation Army can carry out very ambitious operations effectively,” comments independent military expert Alex Luck – apparently alluding to a possible invasion of Taiwan.
Velina Tchakarova, founder of the geopolitical consulting firm “FACE” based in Vienna, also says: “This is a cleansing process of almost breathtaking proportions – and very good news for Taiwan, Japan and the USA.” The logic behind this is clear: If Xi Jinping clearly doesn’t have his military under control, then Taiwan and China’s neighboring states shouldn’t have to worry much.
This is also supported by the fact that Zhang Youxia, the last Chinese general with actual combat experience, was shot. At the end of the 1970s there was a short but bloody border war between the People’s Republic of China and Vietnam. The younger generation in the Chinese military may be up to speed rhetorically against the imperialist arch-enemy, the United States, but these officers have not yet seen a single combat mission in practice.
According to Lyle Morris of the Asia Society Policy Institute, a leading expert on China’s military, evidence suggests that Zhang has amassed too much power – a violation that control freak Xi Jinping will not tolerate.
Accordingly, there are also doubts as to whether the ongoing massive wave of purges is actually good news for Taiwan. Because Xi is obviously interested in bundling the decision-making processes in the military more closely in order to exercise absolute control. From the outside, it certainly looks as if someone is trying to completely reshape the People’s Liberation Army under great time pressure in order to make his lifelong dream of a “united motherland” a reality. Since Xi is already 72 years old, he doesn’t have much time left for this. (aargauerzeitung.ch)