China’s latest investigation into its armed forces — this time targeting the country’s most senior uniformed officer — has dramatically hollowed out the nation’s highest military decision-making body, raising fresh questions about stability, loyalty and control within the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
The probe centres on Zhang Youxia, 75, first vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the powerful seven-member body that oversees China’s military capabilities and operational readiness. Zhang is the highest-ranking active-duty officer in the PLA and second only to President Xi Jinping within the military hierarchy.
In addition to Zhang, authorities are also investigating Liu Zhenli, a CMC member and chief of staff of the CMC Joint Staff Department, according to official military media and party statements.
With the investigations underway, China’s seven-member CMC has effectively been reduced to just two sitting members: Xi Jinping, who chairs the commission, and Gen. Zhang Shengmin, secretary of the CMC’s Discipline Inspection Commission.
The current CMC was formed in 2022, when Xi began his unprecedented third term as Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary. Alongside Xi, the commission initially included two vice chairmen and four members: Zhang Youxia, He Weidong, Li Shangfu, Miao Hua and Liu Zhenli.
Since then, all but Zhang Shengmin have been removed, sidelined or placed under investigation.
Earlier, generals He Weidong, Li Shangfu and Miao Hua were expelled from the CMC amid sweeping anti-corruption probes. Now, with Zhang Youxia and Liu under investigation, the command structure at the very top of the PLA appears severely depleted.
China’s official language has been unusually severe. The PLA Daily accused Zhang and Liu of having “undermined” Xi’s authority, abetting “political and corruption problems,” weakening party control over the armed forces and causing “immense damage” to combat effectiveness.
Both men also held seats on the 24-member CCP Politburo, underlining the political weight of the investigation.
The probe into Zhang has attracted particular international attention following claims by the Wall Street Journal that China’s senior-most general is accused of leaking information about the country’s nuclear weapons programme to the United States.
Citing people familiar with a high-level briefing, the newspaper reported that Zhang also allegedly accepted bribes in exchange for official acts, including backing the promotion of an officer to defence minister.
Beijing has neither confirmed nor substantiated these claims. Asked about the report, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said he was “not familiar with” the allegations.
Some analysts have voiced skepticism. Neil Thomas, a senior China expert at the New York-based Asia Society, questioned how such leaks could have occurred given the intense monitoring of senior Chinese generals.
“How would Zhang even do this? His communications are monitored and he rarely, if ever, meets anyone unaccompanied,” Thomas said, adding that it would require “a pretty vast conspiracy” to remain undetected.
Zhang and Liu are among the few remaining PLA generals with combat experience dating back to China’s border clashes with Vietnam. Their investigation marks the highest-level military probe since at least the Tiananmen Square crisis of 1989.
Zhang joined the PLA in 1968, rose steadily through the ranks and became a Politburo member in 2017 before being elevated to first vice chairman of the CMC in 2022.
The current crackdown follows what analysts describe as the biggest military purge in decades. In October last year, Beijing expelled two serving CMC members — He Weidong and Miao Hua — along with seven other generals, citing “extremely serious” discipline violations involving vast sums of money.
Former defence minister Li Shangfu was removed from office in late 2023 and later expelled from the party over alleged corruption in military procurement. His successor, Admiral Dong Jun, became China’s first naval officer to serve as defence minister but has not been elevated to the CMC.
Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli were last seen in public on December 22, attending a ceremony conferring the rank of general on two senior officers. Since then, their disappearance from official coverage has fuelled speculation about the depth of the crisis within the PLA’s top command.
As the investigation continues, China’s military leadership remains unusually concentrated in the hands of Xi Jinping and the party’s internal disciplinarian — a situation without clear precedent in recent decades.
