China’s parliament standing committee on Friday took Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli off the state Central Military Commission, Xinhua said, seven months after both were put under investigation for “serious violations of discipline and law.” Zhang had been vice-chairman of the commission — second to Xi Jinping, and the highest-ranked general in the country — and a member of the Politburo. Liu sat on the commission and ran the Joint Staff Department. Reuters, from Beijing, said a body that used to have seven members now has two: Xi, and Zhang Shengmin, the remaining vice-chairman.
China keeps two Central Military Commissions, one for the Communist Party and one for the state, that function as a single institution. Friday’s vote was the state version. Zhang and Liu have not been formally, publicly stripped of the Party seats. Their names also disappeared from an updated list of National People’s Congress deputies, along with ten other lawmakers, among them Lieutenant General Zhong Shaojun, once director of the CMC General Office, and General Ju Qiansheng, a former Strategic Support Force commander. Separately, the top political advisory body on Wednesday dropped Zhao Zongqi, who commanded the Western Theatre during the 2020 clash with India.
The military has been a main target of the anti-corruption campaign Xi ordered in 2012. Last month he told senior Party leaders to deepen that fight. AFP noted that Zhang’s fall still shocked people who had him down as close to Xi. The investigation language is the usual euphemism. The commission that is supposed to run the People’s Liberation Army is now two men.
Sources: Reuters; AFP via The Star; Xinhua.
