China’s Top Military Commander Set To Be Latest Casualty In Purge Of Officials

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,