Zhang Youxia Investigated as Central Military Commission Undergoes Reshuffle; Top Military Leadership Enters a “Vacuum Period”

March 11, 2023: Senior members of the CCP’s Central Military Commission line up to take the oath at the National People’s Congress. From right to left: Zhang Youxia, He Weidong, Li Shangfu, Liu Zhenli, Miao Hua, Zhang Shengmin. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

[People News] Zhang Youxia, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Military Commission (CMC), has been accused of “seriously endangering the Party’s absolute leadership over the military” and is under investigation. The incident has drawn widespread attention. A week after the news broke, the PLA Daily website published articles for three consecutive days urging all officers and soldiers to stay ideologically aligned with the CCP Central Committee and repeatedly emphasizing the need to “listen to the Party and follow the Party.”

According to a report by Radio Free Asia, the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of the CMC, again ran a commentator’s article on its front page on the 2nd regarding the investigations of Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, marking the third consecutive day of commentary on the issue. The article stated that the handling of Zhang Youxia, Liu Zhenli, and others is an important measure to remove factors affecting military development and will help provide momentum for strengthening the armed forces.

The commentary, titled “Advancing with a Strong Sense of Mission and Responsibility,” pointed out that anti-corruption and rectification efforts will push the military to focus on its primary responsibilities and core tasks. It called on all officers and soldiers to unify their thinking and actions with the decisions and deployments of the CCP Central Committee, the CMC, and CMC Chairman Xi Jinping, and to devote their main energy to combat readiness and the goal of building a strong military.

Reiterating “Follow the Party’s Command” Under the Banner of Anti-Corruption

Beijing-based scholar Liu Shaoqiu said in an interview with Radio Free Asia this Tuesday (the 3rd) that since the official notice accusing Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli was issued on January 24, authorities have published articles continuously over the past week. However, the tone of these statements has clearly shifted toward more principle-based and mobilization-style language, which instead highlights the authorities’ anxiety over reactions within the military.

He said: “If this were just routine anti-corruption, there would be no need to stress ‘unifying thinking and action’ on the front page of the military newspaper for several consecutive days. This style of writing feels more like a reminder—or even a push—for the troops to make their positions known, suggesting that the political signals previously released have not generated the expected response within the military.”

Liu believes that the repeated emphasis on “unifying thinking and action with the Central Committee” itself reveals a gap between expectations and reality, indicating that the CMC’s political mobilization has not naturally unfolded across the entire military. “If implementation were smooth, there would usually be no need for repeated calls, especially not repeated messaging on the same theme.”

Signs of a Wait-and-See Attitude at the Implementation Level

Mr. Duan, who is familiar with the CCP’s military structure, told this station that after Zhang Youxia came under investigation, between January 24 and 30 the CMC issued multiple directives at the administrative and command levels to the five theater commands, the Rocket Force, the Navy, and other units. These included requests for coordinated statements and responses. However, delays in feedback were frequent at the implementation level. Some units gave only formal responses, with no substantive follow-through.

He said this situation was uncommon in the past: “CMC orders usually flow straight down and rarely require repeated clarification. The current pattern of layers of feedback and slow implementation itself shows that the execution system is in a wait-and-see mode.”

In this context, Duan said, the continuous publication of articles in official media emphasizing “demonstrating loyalty to the Party through concrete actions” and requiring officers and soldiers to align their thinking and actions with the decisions and deployments of the Central Committee, the CMC, and the CMC Chairman reflects, to some extent, the leadership’s anxiety over an unsmooth command chain. “If orders could be implemented naturally, there would be no need to repeatedly emphasize them through public opinion mobilization.”

The PLA Daily articles also stressed the need to deeply understand the changes brought about by political rectification, discipline enforcement, and anti-corruption efforts, to combine “loyalty to the Party” with the advancement of military strengthening, and to implement related requirements through concrete actions. The articles also stated that the PLA must uphold “three constants”: unwaveringly safeguarding national sovereignty, security, and development interests as its fundamental mission; not changing its political stance of listening to and following the Party; and not relaxing its goal of strengthening the military and advancing toward world-class status.

Decline in the Number of Participants in CMC Decision-Making

In response, CCP history scholar Wen Fang told reporters that after Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli came under investigation, the number of CMC members actually participating in decision-making has noticeably decreased, and the CMC’s functioning as a collective leadership body has correspondingly narrowed.

He noted that the CMC is not a symbolic institution; its normal functioning relies on coordinated discussion and joint participation by multiple members. “Generally speaking, several CMC members must participate together to reflect the basic form of collective decision-making. Once core members are absent for a long time or the number of active participants drops significantly, even if meetings can still be held formally, the collective nature and authority of its decisions will be questioned.”

Reports indicate that the transmission of administrative and command orders from China’s top military authority has encountered obstacles within the armed forces, with clear delays and passive responses at the implementation level. Some directives have been repeatedly sent back for clarification at the theater and service branch levels, and some have gone unanswered for extended periods. These changes have drawn outside attention to the current state of CCP military power operations.

Looking back at CCP history—whether during wartime, the Cultural Revolution, or the post-reform era—the CMC has always maintained a relatively complete multi-member structure to ensure the legitimacy and stability of military power operations. The current sharp contraction in the CMC’s actual functioning contrasts markedly with historical norms and has led to sustained scrutiny of its operational state.△