Chinese ships patrol as the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducts military drills on Pingtan island—the closest point to Taiwan—in eastern Fujian Province, China, on Dec. 30, 2025. Adek Berry/AFP via Getty ImagesBeijing on Jan. 24 announced that Central Military Commission (CMC) Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia and Joint Staff Department Chief Liu Zhenli were under investigation, a move quickly followed by an unusually harsh editorial in the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) official newspaper.The severity of the editorial’s language, coupled with the political stature of Zhang in particular, has led analysts and military insiders to view the case not as a routine anti-corruption action but as a watershed moment in Xi’s ongoing effort to consolidate absolute control over the military amid mounting internal resistance.Pandemic Anger Among the RanksAccording to a PLA insider who spoke to The Epoch Times on condition of anonymity for safety reasons, the conflict between Xi and Zhang was not sudden but the result of years of accumulated resentment—much of it from China’s draconian COVID-19 lockdown era.
Xis Military Purge Exposes Deep Divisions Over Taiwan and Command Authority
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