Revealed: He Weidong Was Taken Down by Xi Jinping Himself — Two Major Party Factions Oppose Xi

The "PLA Party Building Conference" of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was held in Beijing from July 20 to 21. He Weidong, Liu Zhenli, Miao Hua, and Zhang Sheng were seated on the podium. CMC Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia was absent. (Screenshot from CCTV video)

[People News] According to the Financial Times, citing five informed sources (including current and former U.S. officials), Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, has purged He Weidong — a Politburo member and the No. 2 figure in the People's Liberation Army (PLA). This move is considered the most high-profile action in Xi's military anti-corruption campaign and marks the first time in sixty years that a general in this position has been dismissed. According to one of the sources, He Weidong is currently under investigation. Another source confirmed that He is no longer serving as Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission and is in the process of being purged. Three sources familiar with the situation stated that He’s dismissal is related to corruption.

In recent weeks, He Weidong has been absent from events typically attended by the Vice Chair of the Central Military Commission. For example, he missed a Politburo meeting on diplomacy that another Vice Chair, Zhang Youxia, attended.

He also did not appear at Xi Jinping’s high-profile annual tree-planting ceremony — an event he attended last year. These absences seem to confirm earlier rumors that he had been removed.

He Weidong had long been considered a core figure in Xi’s military inner circle — a key appointment positioned to eventually replace Zhang Youxia. This has been widely recognized in outside analyses and media commentary. Now, Financial Times sources confirm he was taken down by Xi himself due to corruption.

Logically, this seems puzzling. Neil Thomas, an expert at the Asia Society Policy Institute who studies China's political elite, stated, “Xi Jinping’s ability to purge a Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission shows how seriously he takes eradicating corruption in the military.” He added that Xi aims to transform the PLA into an effective overseas combat force that also fully serves his domestic agenda. “The PLA is the foundation of the Party’s rule at home, and in times of internal uncertainty — like the economic shock caused by the U.S.-China trade war — the military becomes even more vital.”

If we connect the fall of Miao Hua with the incident involving He Weidong, a more coherent picture begins to emerge. It’s rumored that Miao Hua and his three secretaries have implicated over a thousand officers. Miao and He belonged to the same faction. While He Weidong's downfall is significantly more severe, it's not impossible that Miao betrayed him, either out of disloyalty or due to internal taboos.

Among the roughly one thousand implicated officers are high-ranking figures including: Wang Chunning (Commander of the People's Armed Police), Wang Houbin (Commander of the Rocket Force), Lin Xiangyang (Commander of the Eastern Theater Command), Yuan Huazhi (Political Commissar of the Navy), and former Army Political Commissar Qin Shutong. Sources say that from the moment Miao Hua was detained, he entered a frenzied state, not sleeping for 24 hours and producing more than 80 pages of confessions on the first day.

Further reports indicate that there are two major anti-Xi factions within the CCP currently collaborating to oppose him.

Exiled Chinese legal scholar Yuan Hongbing claims that there are now two groups within the CCP system — originally politically opposed, that have formed a tactical alliance against Xi. Reportedly, both factions are preparing major documents to be released Party-wide, aiming to repudiate Xi Jinping’s political line entirely. Yuan did not disclose which two factions these are. He also noted that opposition is rising not only within the system but also among the public. Yuan recently obtained intel that in early April, China’s Ministry of Public Security issued an internal report to provincial- and ministerial-level officials. The report stated that in the first quarter of this year, numerous “gray organizations” have emerged among the general population — these groups express extreme social dissatisfaction and strong anti-establishment tendencies. The Ministry predicts that as the economic situation worsens, this dissatisfaction is likely to escalate into political resistance.