The rise and fall of China’s high army officer Gen. Zhang Youxia

Gen. Zhang Youxia is certainly one of China’s few high army officers with fight expertise. He joined the Central Committee of the Communist Social gathering of China (CPC) in 2007, and in 2012, he was appointed to the Central Navy Fee (CMC), the nation’s highest army decision-making physique. In 2017, he entered the Politburo, the 24-member physique that oversees each the celebration and the central authorities, and was elevated to the second-ranked Vice Chairman of the CMC. In 2022, as President Xi Jinping started a 3rd time period following a constitutional modification, Gen. Zhang retained his place on the CMC and was promoted to first-ranked Vice Chairman, the nation’s highest-ranking army officer. Whilst a number of senior army officers have been eliminated lately amid a widening “anti-corruption” crackdown, Gen. Zhang, extensively seen as having shut ties to Mr. Xi, appeared unaffected.

On January 24, China’s Ministry of Nationwide Defence shocked observers when it introduced that Gen. Zhang and Liu Zhenli, one other member of the CMC and Chief of Employees of the CMC Joint Employees Division, have been below investigation “for suspected critical self-discipline and legislation violations”. The choice to put them “below investigation was made by the CPC Central Committee,” acknowledged the Ministry in a press release.

An editorial within the PLA Day by day, the official mouthpiece of the Individuals’s Liberation Military, declared that “within the struggle towards corruption, no place is out of bounds, no floor is left unturned, and no tolerance is allowed”. Zhang and Liu, in line with the editorial, “have gravely betrayed the belief positioned in them by the CPC Central Committee and the CMC, and severely trampled on and undermined the system of final accountability resting with the CMC chairman [Xi Jinping]”. It added: “They’ve severely fuelled political and corruption issues that threaten the Social gathering’s absolute management over the armed forces and undermine the Social gathering’s governance basis.”

The princeling Basic

Zhang Youxia, born in 1950 in Weinan Metropolis, Shaanxi Province, is a princeling like Xi Jinping — the descendents of China’s founding revolutionaries. His father Zhang Zongxun fought alongside Mr. Xi’s father Xi Zhongxun throughout China’s civil warfare. Mr. Zhang joined the PLA in 1968 and gained uncommon fight expertise through the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese warfare. He grew to become a Main Basic in 1997 and the commander of the PLA’s Shenyang Navy Area, which shares a border with North Korea and Russia, in 2007. In the identical yr, he was appointed to the Central Committee of the celebration when Hu Jintao was the President. In 2011, he grew to become a Basic. A yr later, Gen. Zhang was appointed the top of the PLA Basic Armaments Division, a place that positioned him on the centre of China’s army modernisation drive, initiated by the brand new chief, Xi Jinping.

Mr. Xi launched a sweeping anti-corruption drive geared toward rooting out corruption and favouritism inside the PLA’s high ranks. He additionally overhauled the army’s command construction, centralising management and authority in his personal fingers. A number of senior officers have fallen to the crackdown, notably after Mr. Xi assumed his third time period. These sacked since 2022 embody Li Yuchao, the commander of China’s Rocket Pressure, and his deputy Liu Guangbin and former deputy Zhang Zhenzhong.

Disagreements with Xi

When the present CMC started its time period in 2022, it comprised seven members: Xi Jinping (Chairman); Zhang Youxia (Vice Chairman); He Weidong (Vice Chairman); Li Shangfu (Defence Minister); Liu Zhenli (Chief of the Joint Employees Division); Miao Hua (Director of the Political Work Division); and Zhang Shengmin (Secretary of the Navy’s self-discipline fee). Of those, solely two have remained of their positions unaffected by the anti-corruption drive—President Xi himself and Zhang Shengmin, the self-discipline czar who was promoted to the rank of Vice Chairman in October 2025.

Whereas official statements and celebration mouthpieces provide few particulars in regards to the investigation into Gen. Zhang, an evaluation of official statements by the Jamestown Basis, a U.S.-based suppose tank, argued that disagreements with Mr. Xi over PLA growth and coaching have been the reason for the Basic’s downfall. “Zhang Youxia’s timeline for PLA joint operations coaching didn’t align with Xi Jinping’s 2027 deadline for the PLA to be able to invading Taiwan,” Okay. Tristan Tang wrote in Jamestown. “His force-building agenda additionally centered on fewer priorities and positioned much less emphasis than Xi on army wrestle as a standalone goal, as an alternative integrating it into coaching actions.”