Inside The Purge: Xi Reorders China’s Military Command

Is Xi preparing for an invasion of Taiwan? Will this help or hinder it? Communist China’s potentially vulnerable dictator, Xi Jinping, appears to be finalizing his consolidation of power by sacking two top generals of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

While the senior purge helps Xi in many ways, it could also create dangerous side effects within the top ranks of the Chinese political and military elite.

General Zhang Youxia, a Politburo member and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and Liu Zhenli, a CMC member and chief of the Joint Staff Department, were under investigation for “serious violations of discipline and law.”

This marks one of the most dramatic and potentially dangerous purges at the top of the PLA in decades, going back to the Mao Zedong era.

“This move is unprecedented in the history of the Chinese military and represents the total annihilation of the high command,” said Christopher Johnson, head of China Strategies Group, a political-risk consulting firm, as reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

Some note that Xi’s ongoing purge of nearly his entire top military ranks shows his total control.

But it also shows Stalin-like paranoia against any potential rival power bases, and is reminiscent of Stalin’s purge of Marshal Tukhachevsky and his top Red Army generals, which greatly weakened the USSR’s military effectiveness prior to WWII.

Most significantly, Gen. Youxia, widely regarded as one of the most deeply entrenched figures in the PLA, and once Xi’s most trusted military ally, is accused of leaking nuclear-weapons data to the U.S. and accepting bribes for promotions, including that of a defense minister.

Leaking nuke secrets to the U.S. appears far-fetched, but if somehow true, it would be unprecedented.

But other reports suggest that “Zhang had too much power outside of Xi himself,” said Lyle Morris, senior fellow for foreign policy and national security at the Asia Society Policy Institute, reports WSJ.

The investigation into Zhang is part of an aggressive dismantling of China’s military leadership that has affected over 50 senior military officers and defense-industry executives over the past two and a half years.

Since the summer of 2023, the party has unseated top officers in China’s army, air force, navy, strategic-missile force, and paramilitary police, as well as major theater commands — including the one focused on Taiwan.

Some analysts suggest the latest purges, including a close ally of Xi, indicate Xi’s successful consolidation of power but may adversely affect military readiness and effectiveness. Others note Xi is entering a decisive — but potentially destabilizing — phase of internal power consolidation.

WSJ reports: “Given the size and complexity of overseeing any large and sophisticated military organization, this vacuum at the top is untenable,” said M. Taylor Fravel, director of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He added that it was “bound to have an impact on the PLA’s current readiness to undertake major, complex military operations in the short to medium term.”

China expert Gordon Chang takes it further, noting on X:

China’s military, due to the stunning purge, is not capable of launching an invasion. Yet Xi Jinping now has even more of an incentive to keep tensions high, and he can easily miscalculate. He could, therefore, lose control of a crisis he creates. China is not stable, and almost anything can happen.

An interesting and insightful take posted on X, by Eric S. Raymond, which I find very plausible, and likely:

Chairman Xi has been winding up for the seizure of Taiwan by invasion or blockade for a long time. Recently, several converging lines of evidence that suggested that China is going to jump in 2027. I think that was the plan.

But. China’s military is vastly corrupt, and its readiness to mountain amphibious invasion an order of magnitude more difficult than complex than Normandy is at best highly questionable.

I think Xi has been asking hard questions and has figured out that the generals have been shining him on, telling him pretty stories about Taiwan being a walkover when it’s likely to be anything but.

Xi is an old man. He sees that the chance to reunify China before he dies slipping away. He’s probably smart enough to have figured out that if the rate China’s population is collapsing, the window during which it will be possible at all may close within a decade anyway.

Meanwhile, according to Wen Rui, a Chinese current affairs commentator based in South Korea, Xi’s move also amounts to an open confrontation with three powerful groups long embedded within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — the military establishment, the so-called “princeling” elite, and retired party elders.

“Xi Jinping has finally opened Pandora’s box,” Wen wrote on X, in Chinese. “What comes next may leave people stunned.”

Wen warned that Xi’s actions could trigger widespread turmoil within the armed forces. “To eliminate future threats, Xi will aim to uproot everything,” he said. “That kind of thinking is bound to cause massive waves inside the military.”

In Wen’s assessment, Xi is increasingly treating the PLA’s senior ranks as potential enemies. “He’s almost positioning himself in opposition to the military itself,” Wen said. “Do people really think these officers will simply sit and wait to be arrested?”

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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