Zhang Youxia, top Chinese general purged after 'serious violations of law'

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) faces a leadership crisis after the top general, Zhang Youxia, and another senior military officer, Gen Liu Zhenli, are under investigation, multiple news reports said last week, marking another purge in the armed forces.

Zhang was the senior-most vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), said the country’s Defence Ministry in a statement. He was a close ally of President Xi Jinping on high-level military and diplomatic matters.

As the highest-ranking uniformed officer in China, Zhang played a key role in military decision-making and reported directly to Xi. Zhang is the latest high-ranking figure to be caught in a sweeping purge that has steadily tightened Xi’s grip on the PLA, with analysts viewing the purge as an anti-corruption drive aimed at enforcing political loyalty within the armed forces, which Xi directly oversees as chairman of the CMC.

The CMC, which is usually made up of around seven people, has been reduced to just two members: Xi and Gen Zhang Shengmin, according to BBC News. All others have been taken down in an “anti-corruption” crackdown following previous rounds of detention.

Liu, another CMC member and chief of the Joint Staff Department, is also under investigation for “serious violations of discipline and law”, the statement said.

Such investigations are part of Xi’s long-running anti-corruption campaign, which also led to disciplinary action against more than 200,000 officials across the Communist Party, the government and military since 2012.

Who’s Zhang Youxia?

Zhang, who is 75 years old, joined the PLA in 1968 and was a general in its ground forces. He is one of the few senior Chinese generals with combat experience, having fought in the 1979 conflict with Vietnam, according to the Associated Press.

He remained in office beyond the retirement age, seen as a sign of Xi’s confidence in him. Zhang was also a member of the Communist Party’s Politburo, placing him among China’s top political elite.

He met with the then United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Beijing in 2023, marking a rare military dialogue between Beijing and Washington. The meeting was seen as part of efforts to stabilise military communication between China and the United States amid rising tensions, Reuters reported.

Military buildup in Taiwan

China has not fought a war in decades, but has increased its military presence in the South China Sea and around Taiwan, the self-governed island claimed by Beijing. China also conducted its largest military exercises to date around Taiwan late last year.

The PLA's daily operations will likely continue as normal despite the purges, Singapore-based China security scholar James Char was quoted by Reuters as saying.

“Xi has been tapping second-line PLA officers to fill those roles vacated by their predecessors — on an interim basis in most cases,” said Char, a scholar at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

“China’s military modernisers will continue to push for the two goals Xi has set for the PLA – namely, 2035 to basically complete its modernisation and 2049 to become a world-class armed force,” Char noted.

Zhang is the second vice-chair of the CMC to be purged in recent months. Former CMC vice chair He Weidong was expelled from the party and the PLA in October last year for corruption, replaced by Zhang Shengmin. 

A total of eight top generals have been expelled so far from the Communist Party on graft charges in October 2025, including He Weidong and two defence ministers in recent years.