The sudden removal of China’s two most senior generals is believed to be a stark warning underscoring President Xi Jinping’s zero-tolerance focus on Communist Party discipline and political purity ahead of two landmark events next year.
Beijing announced on Saturday that Zhang Youxia, first-ranked vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and China’s top uniformed officer, was under investigation for serious disciplinary violations, as was Liu Zhenli, chief of the CMC’s Joint Staff Department.
Their downfall leaves China’s supreme military command with only two members, chairman Xi and second-ranked vice-chairman Zhang Shengmin, who is in charge of discipline affairs within the armed forces.
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The investigation comes as Beijing weighs both opportunities and risks ahead of two events next year: the 21st party congress, a five-yearly event marked by top-level reshuffles, and the PLA centenary, the deadline for the first major milestone in the People’s Liberation Army’s modernisation goals.
Removing two senior military leaders ahead of these landmark events is bound to be viewed as a risky move, but observers said it revealed Xi’s resolve to prioritise discipline, focus and political purity above all else.
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In a 2020 speech, Xi warned that conduct damaging the party’s purity persisted, citing unresolved “ideological impurity, political impurity, organisational impurity and conduct impurity”.
