Chinese army purge targets group which undermined Xi Jinping’s authority
China sacked nine senior military officials from the ruling party on October 17 in a high-profile purge that removed several commanders and a Politburo member.
After President Xi Jinping ousted a group of top generals whose careers overlapped for decades, state media accused them of “severely undermining” the Communist Party’s highest echelons of authority.
China sacked nine senior military officials from the ruling party on October 17 in a high-profile purge that removed several commanders and a member of the 24-man Politburo. The disgraced generals had challenged “the system where the CMC chairman bears ultimate responsibility,” the People’s Liberation Army Daily wrote in a front-page editorial, referring to Xi.
The publication compared the sacked leaders to senior military figures purged during Xi’s first term, saying their crimes were “the fermentation and mutation of the poisonous legacy” of Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou. State media once said Guo and Xu had “attempted to seize power within the party and the state.”
Forming factions that could challenge Xi in any way has long been a red line for China’s top leader, who has sought to consolidate power and prevent competing cliques. Six of the fired generals had crossed paths in army groups that later formed the Eastern Theater Command, now responsible for Taiwan operations.
“That so many of the purged officers worked together suggests a shared scandal,” said Neil Thomas, a fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. “What remains unclear is the trigger: Bribery, disobeying orders or more direct criticism of Xi’s rule.”
China’s Defense Ministry didn’t reply to a faxed request for comment. It’s unclear how closely the six men worked together during their time in overlapping units, and if they remained in contact after moving positions.
For the past decade, Xi’s anti-corruption campaign has tried to rid the military of endemic graft he’s called an existential threat to the party. But it wasn’t until his precedent defying third term that China’s top leader began ousting generals appointed under his watch — something his predecessors never did.
That marks a shift from when Xi fired several top generals about a decade ago, in a bid to remove a rival power base comprised of men who were hired by former leaders.
The latest firings marked Xi’s largest single-day purge of military chiefs since he took power more than a decade age. Now, at least 14 generals out of 79 appointed under China’s top leader have been officially ousted, according to a Bloomberg tally. That list includes two former defense ministers, Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu.
Zhang Shengmin, the military’s anti-graft chief, was elevated from member to vice chair on China’s apex military body after a four-day conclave of hundreds of party officials. The veteran political commissar from the Rocket Force would replace He as the nation’s No. 2 general.
Before rising to prominence, six of the men expelled — including the CMC’s ex-vice chair He Weidong and former political commissar Miao Hua — crossed paths in their early career.
Between the 1970s and early 2000s, He and Miao both worked in the 31 Group Army stationed in the eastern port city of Xiamen in Fujian. Qin Shutong, ex-political commissar of the Ground Force, and Lin Xiangyang, former commander of the Eastern Theater Command, were posted in same unit till 2010s.
That eastern province facing Taiwan was a launchpad for Xi’s own political career, with the Chinese leader since propelling several former colleagues from that era of his life into positions of power. Miao and He were thought to be part of the group, until their recent fall from grace.
The generals’ shared history suggests they might have been caught forming their own group, said James Char, Singapore-based assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University. “That’s clearly politically taboo for the commander-in-chief,” he said. “Only the top leader can enjoy this privilege.”
Xi also appears to be shifting gear by taking down a theater commander like Lin. He Weidong also served as Eastern Theater Commander before became vice military chair.
Any impact on military operations from those purges would likely be short lived, according to Char. “There’ll always be younger, more professional officers ready to step up,” he said, noting the PLA’s high command has a “deep bench.”
Publicly, there’s little sign China’s operations around Taiwan have been impacted. Daily incursions by the People’s Liberation Army in the Taiwan Strait have remained elevated since March, when former Eastern Theater Commander Lin was last seen in public.
“Broadly speaking, this set of removals tells me Xi isn’t sufficiently confident in the PLA’s capabilities to refrain from imposing more chaos and uncertainty on the force,” said Eric Hundman, director of research at consultancy BluePath Labs.
