The communist government of China announced Saturday it is investigating its highest-ranking general, alleging unspecified “serious” disciplinary violations, marking the latest development in President Xi Jinping’s military purge.
Zhang Youxia, 75, serves as the top commander in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) military wing. He is also the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), second in authority to only Xi himself. China’s Ministry of National Defense declared in a Saturday statement the country’s government placed both Zhang and General Liu Zhenli, 61, a fellow CMC member, under investigation following “deliberation by the Central Committee of the CCP.”
Zhang and Liu “are suspected of serious violations of discipline and law,” says the Ministry’s statement, in Chinese. The statement does not provide a detailed explanation of what the CCP-controlled government suspects the pair of generals have done.
Xi, who chairs the CMC, has in recent months effectuate a purge of top Chinese military officials, widely believed to be motivated by a desire to make the country’s military more loyal to its leader. In October, Xi’s CCP ousted nine senior PLA officials, alleging them of “serious violations of the Party disciplines” and “serious duty-related crimes,” similar charges to those now levied against Zhang and Liu.
Since Xi became the CCP’s general secretary in 2012, the Chinese government has punished over 200,000 officials under the guise of rooting out corruption, according to The Associated Press (AP).
“There is a lot we do not know about the series of military ‘corruption’ purges, which have intensified this year,” lawyer and noted CCP critic Gordon G. Chang told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement. “Yet we can say this: China’s regime is unstable and in disarray.
“Xi Jinping, in a drive for total power, is tearing the Communist Party apart. Therefore, we have to ask one question: Can he now consolidate the pieces?” the analyst continued. “Perhaps, but once purges gain momentum, they are hard to stop. They now have momentum. The [PLA] is an inherently corrupt institution, so there is no end in sight to corruption purges especially when the country is led by a strongman, like Xi.”
Xi Jinping, in a drive for total power, is tearing the CCP apart. Can he consolidate the pieces? https://t.co/YYDGgO1AGp
— Gordon G. Chang (@GordonGChang) January 24, 2026
Chang added it will be “difficult for China to return to stable rule.”
“Strongmen create instability, and strongman rule is inherent in the Party’s system, which worships domination, struggle, and violence,” he explained. “The threat of China launching an invasion now is remote, but the Chinese regime can still stumble into war. The rest of the world needs to be even more vigilant.”
Former CIA analyst Christopher K. Johnson specifically called the probing of Zhang an “unprecedented” move “in the history of the Chinese military,” noting it “represents the total annihilation of the high command,” according to The New York Times.
“The purging of even a childhood friend in Zhang Youxia shows there now are no limits to Xi’s anti-graft zeal,” Johnson said, the outlet reported.
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