A military purge due to a
failed coup, a senior party leader's purge due to questionable loyalty to Xi
Jinping, or a CMC purge due to global humiliation brought by substandard
Chinese armaments? Or all of the above? Is corruption the CCP/PLA’s generic
excuse to incarcerate or terminate generals who have fallen from Xi Jinping’s
grace?
According to open
sources, roughly 93% of generals who were active at the beginning of
2025 have since been relieved from their command posts or are no longer in
public view, leading to the assumption that they are either incarcerated or
executed. But no credible evidence to support these reports, though.
Recent news states that
General Zhang Youxia, a close ally of Xi Jinping and top-ranking vice
chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), was placed under arrest for
"grave violations of discipline" in January 2026.
Reports also indicate
that 29 of 44 senior military officers appointed to the Central Committee in
2022 went missing--suggesting a significant, widespread roundup of ranking
party members and signaling a massive purge within the PLA.
A similar investigation was
launched against General Liu Zhenli, the chief of staff of the
commission's Joint Staff Department. While this constitutes a major purge aimed
at ensuring loyalty to Xi Jinping, there is no credible, publicly
available information confirming the arrest of about 3,000 soldiers and their
families who are loyal to General Zhang Youxia. Have they launched a coup
d’état but failed?
The investigation into General
Zhang Youxia, a member of the 24-person Politburo, indicates an escalation
of President Xi Jinping's efforts to consolidate power over the armed
forces. Clearly, there is a rupture in the Party structure, and Xi Jinping
is focused on removing disloyal generals, even if it means promoting
inexperienced officers to higher positions. A loyal and less corrupt leadership,
but with questionable military capabilities? How would that stand on Xi
Jinping’s planned Taiwan invasion in 2027?
President Xi Jinping’s
extensive purging of senior PLA generals, including top rocket force commanders
and his former top ally, General Zhang Youxia, drastically undermines the PLA's operational readiness
in the near term. By decimating the high command and leaving key Central
Military Commission positions vacant, these actions create a fragmented command
structure, likely making the invasion of
Taiwan riskier or less likely in 2027, the year set by Xi Jinping.
- Central Military Commission Gutted: As of January 2026, nearly the entire uniformed leadership of the CMC has been purged. Of the six uniformed commanders appointed to the body in 2022, five have been formally removed. Following the January 2026 investigations into General Zhang Youxia and General Liu Zhenli, CMC is now reduced to two members: Xi Jinping and the anti-corruption watchdog, General Zhang Shengmin.
- Recent Wave (2023–2026): Over 50
high-ranking military and defense officials have been purged since an
intensified campaign began in 2023.
- October 2025 Mass Expulsion: In
one of the largest single crackdowns in decades, the Communist Party
expelled nine top generals on graft charges in October
2025. These included, among others:
- Gen. He Weidong: CMC
Vice-Chairman and Politburo member.
- Adm. Miao Hua: Director
of the CMC’s Political Work Department.
- Adm. Wang Houbin: Commander
of the Rocket Force.
- Defense Ministers: Two
former defense ministers, Li Shangfu and Wei
Fenghe, were purged and expelled from the Party in 2024 for
corruption.
- Rocket Force Target: The
purge heavily targeted the Rocket Force, which oversees
China's nuclear and conventional missiles, with at least six generals from
this branch removed by late 2025.
The United States had
the largest defense budget in the world in 2025, with projected spending of
$997 billion, while China ranked second at $314 billion. China is focused on modernization, and its
budget is primarily allocated to developing and acquiring advanced military
hardware, including stealth fighters, drones, and ballistic missiles. With this
large amount of money reaching the hands of vulnerable generals, the abuse of
public office for personal gain likely affected China’s defense manufacturing
industry, leading state-owned and state-controlled corporations to produce
defective and substandard military hardware and armaments.
Significant evidence
indicates that systemic corruption within the Chinese People's Liberation Army
has led to the manufacturing of substandard armaments and defective equipment.
Corruption, particularly within the elite Rocket Force, led to incidents such
as missiles filled with water rather than fuel, silos with malfunctioning
doors, and even some exported defense products that malfunctioned severely
during the war.
For example, the JF-17
Thunder Fighter, CH-4 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, F-7 Aircraft, F-22P Frigates, C-705
Missiles, FM90(N) Missile System, and VT-4 Main Battle Tank have experienced significant malfunctions, technical
failures, and poor performance in both training exercises and in real-time
conflicts. During the Operation Midnight Hammer, Iran’s Chinese-made radars YLC-8B and JY-27A and HQ-9B Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) have
failed to engage the planes from the US Air Force, leaving the three Iranian
nuclear sites defenseless to the Americans’ GBU-57
Massive Ordnance Penetrators. And just recently, the Chinese-made
radar systems JY-27A, JY-1/JYL-1, and Type 305A/H-200, as well as the anti-air
missile FK-3, have failed to detect the US military forces penetrating
Venezuela in the dead of the night, which led to the capture of Nicolas Maduro
under the Operation Absolute Resolve.
Xi Jinping, as
paranoid and proud as he is, will not allow himself to lose face on the global
stage, and that is what happened after Operation Midnight Hammer and
Operation Absolute Resolve. In Chinese culture, "Losing face" (diū
liǎn) refers to a severe loss of reputation, honor, and social
standing caused by public embarrassment. Thus, Xi Jinping directed his anger at
his senior leaders in the Central Military Commission, and the purging began, as
I think it did.
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