Jan. 24 (UPI) — Gen. Zhang Youxia no longer is Chinese President Xi Jinping‘s top military general after being ousted, along with another high-ranking general, amid an investigation into alleged legal and disciplinary violations.
Youxia is the vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Military Commission, a member of the Politburo and second only to Xi as the leader of China’s military, The New York Times reported.
Also facing an ouster is Gen. Liu Zhenli, who is the chief of staff of the Joint Staff of the Central Military Commission and a member of the Central Military Commission.
“This move is unprecedented in the history of the Chinese military and represents a total annihilation of the high command,” former CIA analyst Christopher Johnson told The New York Times.
Johnson is the president of China Strategies Group and suggested the purge shows Xi no longer trusts his longtime commanders and has decided to make room for younger generals to fill the vacancies.
Youxia was a childhood friend of Xi’s, but the Chinese president had undertaken a purge of the country’s top military leaders under the guise of rooting out corruption and disloyalty, Johnson said.
Youxia and Zhenli were removed while Chinese officials investigate each for suspected “serious violations of discipline and law,” according to a translated news release on the matter.
Their removals make them the fourth and fifth high-ranking military leaders to be removed since Nov. 28, 2024.
Only Gen. Zhang Shengmin and Xi remain as controlling members of the Chinese body that oversees its military.
Xi appointed all of the body’s members in 2022 but since has removed all but Shengmin, who has presided over the removal of the other purged generals.
Neither Youxia nor Zhenli has been convicted of wrongdoing, but once accused, virtually all of the purged generals have been found guilty.
