Anushka Saxena
The investigation into one of China’s top generals is the latest episode in Xi Jinping’s purge of the People’s Liberation Army. On January 20, 2026, at a high-level study session for China’s principal provincial and ministerial officials, there was a conspicuous empty chair. Official reporting surreptitiously noted that “both” Vice-Chairmen of the Central Military Commission (CMC) were in attendance, yet the footage told a different story. General Zhang Youxia, the second-in-command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), was missing.
Four days later, the other shoe dropped. China’s Ministry of National Defense confirmed that Zhang, alongside CMC member and Chief of Joint Staff Liu Zhenli, had been placed under investigation for “serious violations of discipline and law.” While Beijing is no stranger to either military corruption or political indiscipline, Zhang’s case is much more incendiary than business-as-usual. Since 2023, the PLA has been in a state of perpetual churn. What began in July 2023, when the CMC Equipment Development Department (EDD) called for whistleblowers to report corrupt procurement practices dating back to 2017, first resulted in the targeting of relatively replaceable officials—Defense Minister Li Shangfu and PLA Rocket Force (PLARF) Commander Li Yuchao. But the crisis soon metastasized—in late 2025, the purge swept through the so-called “Fujian gang.” These are officials like CMC vice chairman He Weidong and Admiral Miao Hua, who rose through the ranks of the erstwhile 31st Group Army in Fujian and the PLA Navy.
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