Kerry Brown
Zhang Youxia, a top military general and vice-chairman of the body in overall command of China’s military forces, was removed from office on January 23. His departure means all but one of the seven members of the central military commission (CMC), which is chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping, have lost their positions in the last three years. Xi has an established record of purging senior officials. Back at the dawn of his tenure as head of the Chinese Communist Party in the early 2010s, there was a series of high-level fallings. Bo Xilai, a fellow Politburo member who was convicted on bribery and embezzlement charges, was perhaps the most commented on.
But even Zhou Yongkang, a former senior party leader, was taken in under corruption charges in 2013 and expelled from the party. The slogan used by party leadership at the time was that even tigers needed to be afraid, not just flies. There were no exceptions when it came to party loyalty – no one was exempt and no one was safe.
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