President Xi has achieved total control of China’s armed forces after removing a top general over alleged ‘violations of discipline and law’.
Zhang Youxia is the latest high-ranking figure subjected to Xi Jinping‘s long-running purge of military officials.
The move is said to have fuelled fresh uncertainty over the country’s invasion of Taiwan amid doubts Mr Xi could pull off the contingency with ‘no senior leaders in charge’.
Gen Zhang, the operational leader of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had survived several round of removals and was previously thought safe in his role as a close childhood friend of the president.
The 75-year-old, who is a member of the ruling politburo, is also one of the only Chinese military commanders with combat experience – having fought in the 1979 Vietnam war.Â
Gen Zhang’s removal forms part of a broader anti-corruption drive that has punished more than 200,000 officials since Mr Xi came to power in 2012.
Another member of the commission, Liu Zhenli, has also been placed under investigation by China‘s ruling Communist Party, a defence ministry statement said.
Mr Liu is the chief of staff of the commission’s Joint Staff Department. The commission is the top military body in China.
Zhang Youxia (pictured) is the latest high-ranking figure subjected to Xi Jinping’s long-running purge of military officials
President Xi (pictured) has achieved total control of China’s armed forces after removing a top general over alleged ‘violations of discipline and law’
The statement did not provide any details on the alleged wrongdoing.
Experts say the removal of Gen Zhang is likely to delay any attempt to seize Taiwan by force.
The general was thought of as central to modernisation efforts in the Chinese armed forces given his role as senior vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC).
Lyle Morris, a senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank, likened President Xi’s actions to a ‘complete cleaning of the house… the biggest purge in Chinese history since 1949’.
Mr Morris added the removal could leave the PLA in ‘disarray’.
He told The Telegraph: ‘We can all sleep soundly for years.
‘There is no way they could pull off the Taiwan contingency with no senior leaders in charge.’
The Communist Party expelled the other vice chair of the commission, He Weidong, last October and replaced him with commission member Zhang Shengmin.
‘There is no way they could pull off the Taiwan contingency with no senior leaders in charge,’ expert Lyle Morris said – pictured is the city centre of capital Taipei
And in 2024, the party expelled two former defence ministers over corruption charges.Â
The CMC has now been reduced to its smallest size in history, at just two members – including Mr Xi and Zhang Shengmin, the military’s anti-corruption watchdog who was promoted to CMC vice-chair in October.
Rumours circulated over the fate of Generals Zhang and Liu on Tuesday after they were absent from a televised party seminar.
One source familiar with the case told the South China Morning Post that General Zhang had been accused of corruption, including failing to control his own family members.
Christopher K Johnson, a former CIA analyst who follows elite Chinese politics, said Beijing is capable of pumping out impressive, hi-tech weaponary.
However, he said the country’s weakness is its lack of ‘software’ able to conduct large-scale military manoeuvres.
But Mr Morris added the removals in fact suggested President Xi has a ‘lot of support in the party and is fully in charge’.
Last year, rumours swirled in Beijing of a power struggle between Zhang and Xi.
Gen Zhang was said to be less bullish than President Xi about China’s prospects of success in seizing Taiwan.
Sir Keir Starmer is set to hold talks with the Chinese President next week in an attempt to increase trade between the two countries.
On the trip Sir Keir hopes to revive a business dialogue forum known as the UK-China CEO Council that was established by Theresa May in 2018, the last time a British PM visited the country. According to Reuters, China’s second-ranking official Li Qiang could be its representative in the talks.
It comes after Labour ministers controversially dismissed fears over espionage and repression to grant China planning permission to build the biggest diplomatic base in Europe on a historic site opposite the Tower of London.
On Tuesday night Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel said: ‘Having surrendered to China over their plan for a spy hub super embassy in the heart of our capital, Keir Starmer is now getting ready to jet off to Beijing and toast it all with Xi Jinping.
Sir Keir Starmer and President Xi Jinping held a bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in 2024
‘Meanwhile Labour are handing British sovereign territory and £35 billion of taxpayers’ money to Mauritius, an ally of China, despite the clear threat to national security. When he is in Beijing Starmer must not make any further concessions to the Chinese Communist Party.
‘Labour are desperate to kowtow to Beijing in the hope of winning some crumbs of investment into the tanking economy they are presiding over. Only the Conservatives can be trusted to put Britain first.’
The Trump administration released a new National Defence Strategy on Friday, acknowledging China as a military power that it said needs to be deterred from dominating the US or its allies.
‘This does not require regime change or some other existential struggle,’ the strategy said.
‘Rather, a decent peace, on terms favourable to Americans but that China can also accept and live under, is possible.’