The expulsion of two top PLA generals has “eliminated a major hidden political danger” for the ruling Communist Party and the military, the Chinese army’s mouthpiece said on Wednesday, suggesting that the two had challenged the party’s control over the armed forces.
The Central Military Commission (CMC) is the overall high command of the PLA headed by President Xi Jinping. Dozens of senior PLA officers have been sacked or punished under an intensified anti-corruption campaign carried out by Xi, which critics say consolidated his hold on power. It included two former defence ministers and dozens of senior PLA officers.
“The serious investigation and punishment of the two eliminated a major hidden political danger for the party and the military and constitutes a major victory in the military’s tough, protracted and overall battle against corruption,” PLA Daily, the mouthpiece of the Chinese military, said in a front-page editorial on Wednesday, referring to Zhang and Liu. Their removal would promote the “purity and honour” of the military and allow it to accomplish its missions and tasks, the editorial said. It said the “international situation, national conditions and party and military conditions are all undergoing complex and profound changes” and therefore “we must unify our thinking and actions with the decisions and arrangements of the party Central Committee and the CMC”.
