China expels two top generals from party and military, alleging disloyalty and corruption

BEIJING – China has expelled two top military officers, Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, from the Communist Party and the military, an official announcement showed on Sept 21, citing alleged disloyalty, corruption and other serious disciplinary breaches.

Zhang was second-in-command under Chinese President Xi Jinping as vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) – the supreme command body – and has long been seen as Xi’s closest military ally.

Liu was a CMC member and the chief of staff of its Joint Staff Department.

Probes into Zhang and Liu were announced in January, with the pair removed from the state Central Military Commission (CMC) in late August.

Since coming to ​power in 2012, Xi has unleashed one of the most sweeping corruption and discipline crackdowns in modern Chinese history.

Millions within China’s vast bureaucracy have been investigated to varying degrees, with scores of senior party, government and military officials ensnared and purged.

The military has increasingly been one of the main targets of this broader campaign in recent years.

A string of investigations and expulsions has left just two active figures on the formerly seven-member CMC, including Xi himself, who serves as chair.

Cliques and factions

The Chinese leadership accused Zhang and Liu of being disloyal to the party, forsaking the party’s principles and failing to enforce strict party discipline or to supervise staff and family members.

The pair “seriously violated political discipline and political rules, formed cliques and factions, and were disloyal and dishonest to the party”, Xinhua cited official documents as saying.

Zhang and Liu “crossed red lines and basic limits”, it said, adding that their “political and economic wrongdoing were intertwined, and corrupt self-enrichment coexisted with dereliction of duty and abuse of office”.

“The sums involved were exceptionally large; the nature (of their conduct) was extremely serious and the impact extremely egregious,” it said.

While corruption allegations are not unusual against senior People’s Liberation Army officers, “what is unprecedented are the charges of disloyalty that include forming cliques and factions”, said Dennis Wilder, a former China analyst at the US’ Central Intelligence Agency and a senior fellow at Georgetown University.

The disloyalty allegations “harkens back to the days of (former Chinese leader) Mao (Zedong)”, and, if substantiated, could suggest Xi saw the situation as a serious challenge to his authority and political position, Wilder said.

“It sends a sharp message to both the elders and the military about challenging Xi,” he added.

Combat veteran

Zhang had also been a member of the elite Politburo of the ruling Communist Party and is one of just a few leading officers with combat experience.

“What’s most remarkable about this particular moment is that, in the 1980s, Zhang Youxia was presented by the party and military propaganda apparatus as proof that yet another generation of young Chinese would prove loyal to the revolution,” said Joseph Torigian, an expert in ‌Chinese politics ⁠at American University.

“And now, Zhang is facing accusations of corruption and materialism that have brought down so many others of his cohort.”

The expulsions of Zhang and Liu were formally approved during a Politburo meeting chaired by Xi on Sept 21, state media reported.

Their suspected criminal cases would next be handed over to military prosecutors for examination and prosecution, in accordance with the law, Xinhua said.

The announcement came days before Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to travel to the US for talks with US President Donald Trump, and weeks before a key October party conclave on internal party governance and discipline. REUTERS