Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli removed from Communist Party and military; cases transferred to prosecutors amid Xi Jinping’s ongoing purge.
China’s Communist Party has expelled two of its most senior military officers, Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, accusing them of corruption, forming cliques and political disloyalty, state media reported on Monday.
China Removes Two Top Military Generals:
The decision was taken by the Politburo and announced through the official Xinhua news agency. Both men have also been stripped of their military ranks, and their cases have been transferred to military prosecutors for further investigation and potential prosecution.
Zhang Youxia, a former vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC)-the body that oversees China’s armed forces and is chaired by President Xi Jinping-had long been regarded as one of Xi’s closest military allies and the highest-ranking uniformed officer in the People’s Liberation Army. Liu Zhenli served as a CMC member and chief of staff of its Joint Staff Department.
According to the official statement, the pair “seriously violated political discipline and political rules, formed cliques and factions, and were disloyal and dishonest to the party.” Investigators found they had “fallen away from the party in heart and mind,” abused their positions to help others gain promotions, accepted “exceptionally large” bribes, and failed to properly supervise relatives and subordinates. Their political and economic offences were described as intertwined, with the sums involved characterised as extremely large and the impact “extremely egregious.”
China Purges Top Military Leaders:
Investigations into both men were publicly announced in January this year, and they were formally removed from the Central Military Commission in late August. Their expulsion marks another significant step in Xi Jinping’s long-running anti-corruption campaign, which has heavily targeted the military in recent years.
The CMC, once a seven-member body, has been reduced through successive purges, leaving only a small number of active senior figures including Xi himself. Analysts note that while corruption charges are common in such cases, the explicit accusations of disloyalty and faction-building carry particular political weight, signalling the leadership’s determination to eliminate any perceived challenges to party control over the armed forces.
The latest removals form part of a broader effort that has seen dozens of senior officers investigated or dismissed since 2023. Chinese authorities present the campaign as essential to ensuring the military’s absolute loyalty to the Communist Party and to Xi’s leadership.