(Dean Cheng – Breaking Defense) Since 2023, the senior leadership of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been decimated. The most recent casualty is Zhang Youxia, one of the two vice chairmen of the PLA’s Central Military Commission (CMC), and therefore one of the two most senior uniformed members of the Chinese security establishment. Zhang’s removal follows the relief of Gen. Li Yuchao of the PLA Rocket Force in 2023, defense minister (Li Shangfu) in 2024, the other vice chairman (He Weidong) and the head of the Political Work Department (Miao Hua) in 2025, and the head of the Joint Staff Department (Liu Zhenli) alongside Zhang in the current cycle. Those roles have yet to be formally filled, leaving only two official members of the CMC: Xi Jinping, as chairman, and Gen. Zhang Shengmin, head of the CMC Commission for Discipline Inspection (CMCCDI) who has also been promoted to vice chairman. Nor have the removals only been from the CMC. In the October 2025 purges that took down Hua, the Army and Navy political officers were also relieved. So was Gen. Lin Xiangyang, head of the Eastern Theater Command (ETC). Much of the PLA Rocket Force leadership was relieved in an earlier cycle, all on charges of corruption.
Why Xi Jinping has been purging China’s military leadership, and what may come next
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