China: Is Xi Jinping losing trust in his top generals?

"Over the weekend, it emerged that authorities in China have opened investigations into two senior figures at the top of the People's Liberation Army for "serious disciplinary violations" a phrase commonly used in Chinese official communications to refer to corruption. Those affected include top general Zhang Youxia, who is one of President Xi Jinping's closest allies in the military and one of the two deputy chairmen of the powerful Central Military Commission. Another senior general, Liu Zhenli, is also being investigated."

"The Central Military Commission is the collective command body overseeing all of China's armed forces the army, navy, air force and the nuclear-armed rocket forces as well as the armed police and the militia. Its chairman is Xi Jinping, who, in addition to being the country's president, also serves as general secretary of the ruling Communist Party. Among the three top posts Xi holds, the chairmanship of the military commission is widely considered the most powerful."

"China's founding leader, Mao Zedong, famously argued that "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." This logic has long shaped Chinese politics. In 2005, then-President Jiang Zemin retained control of the military commission for months after stepping down from his other posts, handing it over to his successor Hu Jintao only after a delay. A general with combat experience The case of Zhang Youxia, China's highest-ranking uniformed officer, is particularly striking."

Authorities in China have opened investigations into two senior People's Liberation Army figures for "serious disciplinary violations", a phrase commonly used to mean corruption. The two include top general Zhang Youxia, a close ally of Xi Jinping and one of the two deputy chairmen of the Central Military Commission, and general Liu Zhenli. Both have been removed from their posts. The Central Military Commission commands the army, navy, air force, rocket forces, armed police and militia, and its chairman is Xi Jinping, who also serves as Communist Party general secretary. Zhang rose from ordinary soldier to the highest uniformed rank after joining the army in 1968 at age 18.

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