Suspicions of major scandals in the Chinese military

2026-01-29 10:59:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

A corruption scandal is rocking the leadership of the Chinese military. Over the weekend, it was announced that one of the two vice-chairmen of the Central Military Commission, Zhang Youxia, and another high-ranking general, Liu Zhenli, were being investigated for "serious disciplinary violations." In Chinese propaganda terminology, this means that both were removed from their posts due to corruption.

The Central Military Commission is the joint supreme command of all branches of China's armed forces: the army, navy, air force, missile force, armed police, cyber army, and the people's militia as a reserve force.

Its president is Xi Jinping, who is also the President of China and General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party. Of these three positions, the leadership of the military commission is considered the most powerful.

Even the country's founder, Mao Zedong, thought so: political power comes from the muzzle of a gun. Because of this, in 2005, then-President Jiang Zemin handed over control of the military commission to his successor, Hu Jintao, with considerable delay - six months after he resigned from his two remaining posts.

A war-experienced general,
General Zhang is the only one of the three leaders who rose from a private to the highest rank of officer in the armed forces. He joined the army in 1968 at the age of 18. In 1979 and 1984, he commanded a regiment and, like another deposed general, Liu Zhenli, took part in the border war against Vietnam.

After the victory, Zhang was honored. He later served as commander-in-chief of the army in northeastern China, before taking up an army command post in Beijing.

"The case is quite striking," says political scientist Ying-Yu Lin of Taiwan's Tamkang University. "The military commission now has no one in its leadership with war experience. That is suspicious."

President Xi and the second vice-chairman are political officers with no combat experience. The 75-year-old Zhang, as a military delegate, is also a member of the party's innermost leadership circle, the 25-member Politburo of the Communist Party of China.

He was probably Xi Jinping's favorite, as his promotion did not conform to common practice. At 72 at the time, he was due to retire in 2022. But there is also a family connection: Zhang's father served alongside Xi's father and came from the same province.

A clear breach of trust
"Now Xi Jinping obviously doesn't trust him anymore," political scientist Lin surmises. "All the speculation about why Zhang fell from favor - whether it was corruption, bribery or even accusations that he was spying for foreign intelligence services, as reported by the US media - is irrelevant if the trust remains, and if not, the crime is just a formality."

Lin believes Xi wants to reshape the leadership structure. Political officials are already subject to discipline and disloyalty is punished. Now the generals have come into his focus.

In October, Chinese authorities announced the start of corruption investigations against nine military officials. China has not fought a war for decades, but especially with naval maneuvers along its Pacific coast, it is increasingly demonstrating its military power in order to push back against the strong US presence. In 2025, military spending amounted to around 220 billion euros. / DW