CCP leader Xi Jinping’s continued purge of generals creates a vacuum in the PLA’s top leadership and weakens its combat capabilities, analysts said.
Military officers and other delegates leave the opening session of the CPPCC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on March 4, 2025. China’s annual political gathering known as the Two Sessions will convene leaders and lawmakers to set the government’s agenda for domestic economic and social development for the year. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping warned military officials against “disloyalty” at a meeting of the military delegation during the CCP’s annual top political meetings, known as the Two Sessions.
The absence of several top generals at the meeting was noted by analysts, who pointed out that Xi’s rhetoric indicates the military purge that is intertwined with power struggles and systemic pressures will continue.
The CCP’s “Two Sessions” refers to the annual plenary sessions of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People’s Congress (NPC), the two houses of China’s rubber-stamp legislature. This year’s meetings have been held from March 4–11.
In a speech at a plenary meeting of the military, Xi stated that “there must be no one in the military who harbors disloyalty to the Party.” He also said that the anti-corruption campaign within the military will continue, while tightening oversight of aspects such as the flow of funds, the exercise of power, and the quality of equipment.
According to public records, there are 18 top-ranking generals among the military delegates to the National People’s Congress. Only five of them attended the plenary meeting of the military held on March 7—Zhang Shengmin, Dong Jun, Han Shengyan, Yang Zhibin, and Fan Xiaojun; the other 13 generals were absent.
A similar situation was observed among military representatives within the CPPCC. Only one military CPPCC member, General Yi Xiaoguang, attended the meeting, while five other generals who were members of the CPPCC Standing Committee were absent.
Since the CCP’s 20th National Congress in 2022, five of the seven members of the Central Military Commission have been investigated or dismissed. Currently, only Xi Jinping and Zhang Shengmin remain in the Central Military Commission.
Following the purge of top general Zhang Youxia in January, the turmoil within the CCP military has continued, while dissent has been growing. Zhang was accused of “seriously violating and undermining the system of responsibility under the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and endangering the foundation of the CCP’s rule.”
Xi’s warning at the Two Sessions this time is tantamount to admitting that the CCP’s internal political and military problems remain severe, Su Tzu-yun, researcher and director of the Division of Defense Strategy and Resources at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told The Epoch Times.
“This indicates that discontent with Xi Jinping is indeed ongoing within the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Factions have been purged, including those within Xi’s own faction, causing instability within the military,” he said.
The “loyalty” of the Chinese military PLA was meant to follow the Party’s commands, but now, Xi Jinping has changed its meaning to loyalty to Xi Jinping personally, Su said.
The deep-seated issues currently facing the Chinese military include loyalty crises, corruption, instability in the command structure, and deficiencies in combat readiness, Shen Ming-shih, research fellow at the Division of National Security Research at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told The Epoch Times. “However, the root cause lies in factional infighting, which leads to disloyalty issues.”
What appears to be anti-corruption is actually a struggle between factions or for power, he said.
What Xi said at the meeting shows that it’s possible that the purge of generals will be more severe in the future than it is now, or that there will be even more generals being purged, Shen said.
Military delegates arrive at the opening session of the National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on March 5, 2024. Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
The reason for Xi’s continuous purge of top generals is ideological, Mark Cao, a U.S.-based military tech analyst, and host of Chinese-language military news YouTube channel Mark Space, told The Epoch Times.
“Xi Jinping is actually following the extreme leftist ideology of the Mao era. In the last year or two, a large number of CCP generals have been purged. This actually shows that Xi Jinping is not satisfied with any of these generals, as they do not meet his ideological standards.”
“He just uses one group of high-ranking military officials to fight another, and after he’s done using them, he replaces them with another group to take them down,” Mark said of Xi’s purge.
PLA’s Capabilities Weakened
The frequent changes in the top leadership of the Chinese military have a negative impact on its combat readiness, the analysts noted.
“Now everyone is living in constant fear,” Su said. “These generals have been detained, and their former subordinates may also have been implicated, including their connections and families. So under these circumstances, 57 percent of the generals have been purged,” Su estimated.
If these senior and experienced generals are unable to lead their armed forces, the overall combat capability will decline, Su said. “Xi Jinping’s promotion of generals may be driven by political rather than professional aptitude, thus weakening the PLA’s overall combat strength.”
This is a structural problem, Su noted.
“If war breaks out in the surrounding areas, whether it’s the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, or the South China Sea, the chances of Xi Jinping losing are much higher, and it will backfire and undermine the legitimacy of Xi Jinping and the Communist Party’s rule,” he said.
The continuation of factional and power struggles certainly has had a negative impact on China’s military strength, Shen said.
Because many important general positions remain unfilled, there is a shortage of personnel, he said. “This shortage causes instability in the command system, which in turn affects the PLA’s combat readiness.”
Xi Jinping is under pressure, which stems from a lack of capable personnel, Shen said. “Most of the generals from his faction have also been purged, and he hasn’t cultivated any new military leaders.”
In the event of a temporary or urgent incident, such as a major conflict in the Taiwan Strait, he would still have to send troops or generals to fight, and his combat capabilities would probably be reduced, he said.
It’s very difficult, at least for now, for the CCP’s military to fight in a war, Mark said. “Because the upper echelons of its command chain have been almost completely purged, and the successors are in a temporary, uncertain state.”
“Xi Jinping has seen the U.S. military’s tactics in Iran. The entire top leadership of the Chinese military knows that the CCP is no match for the U.S. military capabilities. The CCP’s invasion of Taiwan has been postponed, and I think Xi is unlikely to act immediately,” he said.