China is reshaping the top of its military through systematic purges, disciplinary investigations, and the removal of senior generals — a process officially framed as an anti-corruption campaign, but in practice aimed at concentrating power in the hands of the Communist Party’s top leadership.
The recent removal of Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli illustrates the depth of this shift. In practical terms, the Central Military Commission (CMC) has been reduced from a relatively collective structure — a chairman, a vice chairman, and two members — into an extremely centralized model consisting of a chairman and just one remaining member.
At the center of this process stands Xi Jinping, who has spent years dismantling independent power bases within the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Loyalty to the top leader has increasingly replaced institutional balance as the primary criterion for survival and advancement.
The result is a military command structure with weakened internal checks, diminished collective decision-making, and an unprecedented level of personal control over the armed forces.