On October 17, China’s Defense Ministry announced that the Communist Party had removed nine senior officers from the People’s Liberation Army after investigations.
The announcement came just before the long-delayed Fourth Plenum of the 20th Central Committee, opening October 20, where economic policy and leadership changes are on the agenda.
If Xi Jinping ordered the removals, his dominance remains intact. But if his rivals engineered them, his position could soon collapse. Both The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times report that Xi initiated the purge, though evidence suggests otherwise.
Since July 2024, the PLA’s Daily has published articles promoting “collective leadership”—a thinly veiled rebuke of Xi’s one-man rule. These were linked to Gen. Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission and a known Xi opponent. The top officer ousted this week was Gen. He Weidong, Xi’s closest ally in the military, accused of “disloyalty” and expelled from the Party.
