China’s defense ministry announced on Saturday that the Communist Party of China has chosen to launch an inquiry into Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, two senior military officials, for alleged grave infractions of the law and discipline.
According to the ministry, Liu is chief of staff of the CMC Joint Staff Department, while Zhang is a member of the ruling Communist Party’s top Politburo and vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission.
Zhang, a 75-year-old modernizer and one of the few senior officers with combat experience, is regarded by many as President Xi Jinping’s closest military ally. He is one of two vice-chairmen of China’s highest military command organization, the CMC.
CRACKDOWN ON GRAFT
In 2012, Xi ordered a widespread crackdown on corruption, with the military being one of the primary targets. When the Rocket Force was targeted in 2023, that campaign reached the highest levels of the People’s Liberation Army.
In October 2025, eight senior generals, including He Weidong, the nation’s second-ranked general, were dismissed from the Communist Party due to allegations of corruption. He had been on the Central Military Commission with Zhang and under Xi.
In recent years, the ruling party expelled two past defense ministers due to corruption. The crackdown is hurting the profits of some of China’s largest defense companies and hampering the acquisition of cutting-edge weapons.
Given Zhang’s closeness to Xi, the significance of the commission’s work in terms of command, and the PLA’s continuous military modernization and posture, foreign diplomats and security analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.
China is taking a more assertive stance in the disputed East and South China Seas, as well as over the self-governing island of Taiwan, which it claims, even though it hasn’t engaged in combat in decades. Late last year, Beijing conducted the biggest military drills around Taiwan to yet.
Since the Cultural Revolution of 1966–1976, Zhang was the second serving general removed from the Central Military Commission. Since meeting with Russia’s defense minister on November 20, he has not been spotted in public.
In a piece published earlier that month, Zhang urged the military to eradicate “poisonous influences and long-standing problems” and promised to take tough measures against “fake loyalty” and “two-faced men”.
CHILDREN OF CIVIL WAR VETERANS
Xi and Zhang are both from the northwest province of Shaanxi and are the offspring of former high-ranking officials who fought alongside each other during the civil war in the 1940s.
Zhang, who was born in Beijing, enlisted in the army in 1968. As the PLA’s modernization drive gained momentum, he advanced through the ranks and joined the military commission in late 2012.
According to a Pentagon profile of Zhang published in late 2023, given standard military procedure, Zhang was anticipated to retire in 2022 at the age of 72.The Pentagon’s annual report on China’s military that year included a biography that stated, “Zhang’s retention on the CMC for a third term probably reflects Xi’s desire to keep a close and experienced ally as his top military adviser.”
In 1979, China started a short-lived but brutal border war against Vietnam as retaliation for Vietnam’s invasion of Cambodia the year before and the overthrow of the Beijing-backed Khmer Rouge.
According to official propaganda, Zhang was promptly promoted after being sent to the front lines to battle the Vietnamese at the age of 26. As the war raged on, he also participated in another border conflict with Vietnam in 1984.
In a 2017 article headlined “These Chinese generals have killed the enemy on the battlefiel,” the official China Youth Daily stated, “During the battle, whether attacking or defending, Zhang Youxia performed excellently.”
Zhang emerged from the war as an admitted modernizer in terms of military tactics, weapons, and the need for a better-trained force, according to some Chinese experts.
