The military has been one of the main targets of a broader corruption crackdown ordered by Xi in 2012.

Published on: Aug 29, 2026, 16:33:31 IST

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China on Friday removed two senior military officers from its supreme military command body, the state Central Military Commission, following investigations over suspected serious violations of discipline and law.

The move is the latest development in President Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-corruption crackdown, which has targeted senior officials across the military, Communist Party, government and state-owned enterprises since he came to power in 2012.

The removal of Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli leaves just two active members on the formerly seven-member commission, including President Xi Jinping himself, Reuters reported, citing Xinhua.

Zhang was second-in-command under Xi as vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and a member of China's elite Politburo. Liu was a CMC member and chief of staff of the CMC's Joint Staff Department.

Corruption crackdown

The military has been one of the main targets of a broader corruption crackdown ordered by Xi in 2012.

Last month, Xi urged senior leaders of the ruling Communist Party to deepen the fight against corruption in the military. The years-long campaign has seen scores of senior officials and top generals investigated, removed and purged.

China has parallel Communist Party and state CMC structures, but they function as a single institution. Friday's announcement by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress concerns Zhang and Liu's positions in the state CMC.

12 lawmakers lose seats

Zhang and Liu's names were removed from an updated list of deputies published by China's parliament, the National People's Congress, on Friday, indicating that they had officially lost their seats, along with 10 other lawmakers, Reuters report added.

Among them are Lieutenant General Zhong Shaojun, former director of the CMC General Office, and General Ju Qiansheng, a former commander of the military's Strategic Support Force.

The list also included Gao Shiwen, former mayor of the southern Chinese city of Nanchang, who previously worked at state-owned aerospace and defence giant China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

The Galwan connection

Separately, China’s top political advisory body on Wednesday stripped Zhao Zongqi, a former commander of the Western Theatre Command, of his membership. Zhao has combat experience in the Sino-Vietnamese war and handled 2020 China-India border conflicts.

The Western Theatre Command controls Chinese military operations across Tibet and Xinjiang and along much of China’s border with India.

According to , Zhao headed the People’s Liberation Army’s Western Theatre Command during the 2017 Doklam standoff and the 2020 Galwan Valley clash with India. It was later reported that Zhao authorised the Galwan operation to “teach India a lesson”.

Zhao was stripped of his membership of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and removed from two other posts. Beijing has neither given a reason for his removal nor announced any investigation against him, the report added.

Earlier in August, a Chinese court sentenced Zhang Jianhua, a former deputy director of its defence industry regulator, to 10 years in prison for bribery as part of a wider anti-graft shake-up in China's defence sector and military.

From 2008 to 2025, Zhang illegally took in over 55 million yuan ($8.15 million) during his tenure at the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND) as well as after retirement, state-run Xinhua news agency cited the court's first-instance verdict as saying.

In July, the ruling Communist Party of China expelled its former chief of Xinjiang province, Ma Xingrui, from the party and dismissed him from public service for corruption and violating party discipline.

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