On 25 January, China’s People’s Liberation Army announced that Central Military Commission Vice-Chair Zhang Youxia and Chief of the Joint Staff Department General Liu Zhenli were under investigation for “suspected serious violations of discipline and law.” The removal of China’s top general — thought to be Xi Jinping’s most trusted ally inside the Chinese military — and the PLA’s senior operational commander is shocking. Xi Jinping personally selected six CMC members in November 2022. He has now purged five of them.

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