Why Xi purged China’s top military general

By Kerry Brown, Professor of Chinese Politics; Director, Lau China Institute, King's College London

Zhang Youxia, a top military general and vice-chairman of the body in overall command of China’s military forces, was removed from office on January 23. His departure means all but one of the seven members of the central military commission (CMC), which is chaired by Chinese president Xi Jinping, have lost their positions in the last three years.

Xi has an established record of purging senior officials. Back at the dawn of his tenure as head of the Chinese Communist party in the early 2010s, there were a series…

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