Asia-Pacific
China: Xi Jinping’s purge has “emptied” the PLA leadership – the 16 generals of the plenum and the admiral who kept his post
A US maritime review concludes Xi Jinping’s military purge has run its course because few senior officers are left to remove. The Party’s plenum endorsed discipline reports on 16 top officers.
There is hardly anyone left to remove from the top of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). That is the conclusion of the US shipping publication Maritime Executive in an analysis of November 8: Xi Jinping’s purge of the Chinese armed forces has reached its end simply because there are not many senior officers left to go, while many posts remain vacant.
The official basis of the assessment is the communiqué of the fifth plenum of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party, which met in Beijing from October 26 to 29. In the text, also posted by China’s foreign ministry, the Central Committee approved reports of the Central Military Commission (CMC) on “serious violations of discipline and law” by 16 senior military officers. It also ratified the expulsion of 33 officials from the Party, those 16 included.
First on the list is General Zhang Youxia, former CMC vice chairman and top military officer, together with Liu Zhenli, former head of the Joint Staff Department. Both had been removed earlier this year. The list also includes, according to the same analysis, Wang Haijiang, commander of the Western Theater Command; Liu Qingsong, head of political work in the Eastern Theater, which faces Taiwan; Huang Ming, commander of the Northern Theater; and Zhong Shaojun and Fang Yongxiang, who successively ran the CMC General Office, Mr Xi’s staff office in the military.
The communiqué speaks of “serious risks hidden within the Party, the state and the military” that were “eliminated.” At the same plenum General Zhang Shengmin, now CMC vice chairman, who received Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov in Beijing, was elected to the Politburo.
The Navy paid a heavy price
The Navy has been hit particularly hard. Earlier in the year Admiral Yuan Huazhi, the Navy’s political commissar, Vice Admiral Li Hanjun, a senior figure in the branch’s command, and Vice Admiral Wang Zhongcai, commander of the East Sea Fleet, were removed. Among the few who remain is Admiral Hu Zhongming, Navy commander since December 2023, who however has not been placed on the CMC. His ships nonetheless keep up their missions, from escorts in the Gulf of Aden to pressure around Taiwan.
Changes continue at lower levels too. On November 6 the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress announced it had accepted the resignations of four deputies with military status: one elected by the Navy, two from the CMC’s National Mobilisation Department and one from the People’s Armed Police.
The timing gives the developments more weight. Mr Xi himself has repeatedly said the PLA must be ready to “take back” Taiwan by 2027, the army’s centenary year. The same plenum set the 21st Party Congress for the second half of 2027, where Mr Xi is expected to seek an unprecedented fourth term. Maritime Executive considers it uncertain whether anyone with the experience needed to prepare and conduct such an operation remains in the PLA’s top command.
