China has expelled two top military generals, including the highest-ranking People’s Liberation Army (PLA) official, from the Communist Party and the military, an official announcement showed on Monday.
The probes into charges against Zhang and Liu were announced in January and both were removed from the state Central Military Commission in late August, according to the Reuters report. Zhang, second-in-command under Xi, has long been seen as the Chinese President’s closest military ally, Reuters reported. Zhang was the first-ranking vice chairman of the powerful seven-member CMC, which is the overall high command of the Chinese military headed by President Xi Jinping, PTI news agency reported.
Zhang was formally detained by military corruption investigators in the same month. Both were members of the Central Military Commission – the supreme command body. His position in the CMC made him the highest-ranking uniformed officer in the Chinese military. Both Zhang and Liu were decorated war heroes and the only two members of the CMC with combat experience.
It said that the pair had “crossed red lines and basic limits”, adding that their “political and economic wrongdoings were intertwined, and corrupt self-enrichment coexisted with dereliction of duty and abuse of office. They had taken part in the PLA campaigns against Vietnam in the late 1970s, according to PTI. The decision was made and formally approved at a Politburo meeting chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday, state media reported.
Earlier reporting noted: Investigations against Zhang and Liu were announced in January, and both were removed from the state Central Military Commission in late August. Owing to this, cores of senior party, government and military officials have been purged from the bureaucracy. The military has been one of the main targets of the crackdown in recent years. Following the explusions, only two active figures remain on the formerly seven-member CMC, including Xi himself, who serves as chair. Liu Zhenli was also a CMC member and headed its Joint Staff Department.
Earlier reporting noted: The two “crossed red lines and basic limits”, the documents said, adding that their “political and economic wrongdoing were intertwined, and “corrupt self-enrichment” coexisted with dereliction of duty and abuse of office”.
Earlier reporting noted: Zhang Youxia, a vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the CCP’s top military command body, was second-in-command under President Xi Jinping and has long been regarded as one of his closest military allies.
