Zhang Youxia’s Downfall May Disrupt Stability of Beijing’s Military Decision-Making

Zhang Youxia (third from left, then commander of the Shenyang Military Region) accompanies then–Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie (second from left) on a visit to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. (May 9, 2012)

[People News] China’s Ministry of National Defense announced on Jan. 24 that Zhang Youxia, one of the highest-ranking generals in the Chinese military, is under investigation for suspected “serious violations of discipline and law.” This marks another major purge of the military’s top leadership by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) chief, at a time when Beijing is pushing forward military modernization and seeking to further demonstrate its military strength.

According to Voice of America, 75-year-old Zhang Youxia is a vice chairman of the CCP’s top military command body—the Central Military Commission—and is considered the No. 2 figure after Xi Jinping. He is also a member of the CCP Politburo. His father, Zhang Zongxun, and Xi Jinping’s father, Xi Zhongxun, were both senior generals during China’s civil war and the early years of CCP rule. Zhang Youxia himself took part in the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War and the 1984 border conflict between China and Vietnam. His combat experience, along with his decades-long personal relationship with Xi, helped him rise rapidly through the ranks and ultimately become one of Xi’s most trusted figures in controlling the military.

Also announced as under investigation at the same time as Zhang Youxia was Liu Zhenli, chief of staff of the PLA Joint Staff Department and a member of the Central Military Commission. The Joint Staff Department is regarded as the “command hub” of the PLA’s operational system.

Following the removal last year of another CMC vice chairman, He Weidong, and the replacement of several CMC members, the commission’s original seven-member leadership lineup has now been nearly “hollowed out,” leaving only Xi Jinping and another vice chairman, Zhang Shengmin, still in position.

Since taking power in 2012, Xi Jinping has repeatedly carried out large-scale purges of senior PLA leadership. In addition to Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli now under investigation, former CMC vice chairman He Weidong and former director of the CMC Political Work Department Miao Hua were expelled from the Party and the military for “serious violations of discipline and law.” Others investigated include Wang Xiubin, former executive deputy director of the CMC Joint Operations Command Center; Lin Xiangyang, former commander of the PLA Eastern Theater Command; Qin Shutong, former political commissar of the PLA Army; Yuan Huazhi, former political commissar of the Navy; as well as former commanders of the Rocket Force and the People’s Armed Police. Over the past two and a half years, more than 50 senior military officers and executives from defense industry conglomerates have been publicly investigated.

Media outlets and online sources have offered various explanations for the specific reasons behind the purge of Zhang Youxia, long described as a “princeling” and a member of Xi’s inner circle. On Monday, Voice of America sought comment from the U.S. Department of War regarding Zhang’s downfall and related U.S. media reports. The department responded, “We have no information to provide on this.”

The Pentagon’s 2025 China (CCP) Military Power Report, released last year, said Xi’s purge campaign is “highly likely to weaken the PLA’s combat effectiveness in the short term,” even if its long-term goal is to enhance political loyalty and organizational discipline. The report also noted that this series of upheavals “has reduced the CCP leader’s confidence in the reliability of the military leadership.”

The report further stated that “the continued replacement of senior PLA officers, combined with leadership turnover and vacuums, has led to uncertainty in organizational priorities and a lack of coherence in those priorities. These removals have caused strong tremors within the PLA, with reports that some new recruits have begun to question the military’s absolute loyalty to the Party.”

This latest shake-up in the military’s top ranks comes as the CCP has taken a more aggressive military posture in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. Late last year, Beijing conducted unprecedentedly large-scale military exercises around Taiwan, dispatching dozens of military aircraft and multiple naval vessels to approach waters that Taiwan considers sensitive.
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