Xi Tightened Grip on Beijing Garrison Before Purge of Senior Military Leaders

Police patrol on Tiananmen Square before the opening session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Beijing on March 4, 2025. Vincent Thian/AP PhotoChina’s leadership has quietly filled a long-vacant command post overseeing the capital’s security weeks before two senior military figures were abruptly purged. This unusual personnel move may signal advance preparations for an internal power struggle, analysts told The Epoch TimesIn early January, Chen Yuan, previously commander of the Shanghai Armed Police Corps, was transferred to a leadership role in the Beijing Garrison Command, a strategically vital unit responsible for safeguarding the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) core political institutions. The post had been vacant for nearly a year.