China places military’s top uniformed officer under investigation

^{The Japan Times- China announced Saturday that it has placed the military’s highest-ranked uniformed officer under investigation for “suspected serious discipline and law violations,” terminology often used to refer to corruption.}

^{The country’s Defense Ministry said in a short statement that probes had been opened into Gen. Zhang Youxia, the senior vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, and Gen. Liu Zhenli, a CMC member and head of the Joint Staff Department, which oversees combat planning.}

^{The CMC commands the country’s military under Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the body’s chairman.}

^{The ministry’s statement did not offer specifics about why Zhang and Liu were being investigated, but an editorial late Saturday in the Chinese military’s flagship newspaper appeared to shed at least some light on the reasoning.}

^{The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Daily editorial denounced Zhang and Liu, saying they had undermined Xi’s authority as CMC chief, fueled political and corruption problems that threaten the party’s leadership over the armed forces and damaged efforts to improve combat readiness.}

^{“They have gravely tarnished the image and authority of the CMC leadership and severely damaged the political and ideological foundation of unity and progress among all military personnel,” the editorial said, saying the alleged misconduct had resulted in “an extremely negative impact on the party, the nation and the military.”}

^{The editorial said the decision to investigate Zhang and Liu “has once again demonstrated the clear stance” of the Communist Party that “no matter who they are or what position they hold, anyone involved in corruption will be dealt with without leniency.”}

^{Party elite had been briefed about the investigation on Friday, the South China Morning Post reported, citing an unidentified source. The source said Zhang was accused of corruption and of failing to rein in his close associates, family members and relatives. He was also blamed for not flagging problems to the party leadership at the first instance, according to the source.}

^{The dramatic announcement was the latest in a string of probes into corruption in China’s military unleashed by Xi since he came to power in 2012.}

^{In January last year, Xi reiterated that corruption remains "the biggest threat" to the ruling Communist Party, but said that the fight against graft remains "a grave and complex challenge.”}

^{While ostensibly intended to root out corruption that could prevent China from achieving its long-term goal of fielding a world-class military, critics say the anti-graft campaign has also been wielded to purge Xi’s rivals.}

^{Last October, China announced it had launched corruption probes into a slew of military officials and booted Gen. He Weidong, who was a vice chairman of the CMC, and Adm. Miao Hua, the head of the commission’s political work department, from both the military and Communist Party.}

^{This followed the decision to expel former Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu and his predecessor, Wei Fenghe, from the party in 2024 over corruption allegations.}

^{However, the decision to probe the 75-year-old Zhang — one of China’s few top commanders with combat experience, having fought during the country’s brief skirmishes with Vietnam in the 1970s and 1980s — was striking because he had appeared to be close to Xi.}

^{Xi had kept Zhang in his post beyond the usual retirement age, while both of their fathers were veterans of the Chinese civil war and known as two of China’s “founding generals.”}

^{With the probes into Zhang and Liu, the CMC is now left with just two members: Xi and Gen. Zhang Shengmin, who is not related to Zhang Youxia and oversees the military's investigations into graft. Zhang Shengmin only took up his CMC post last October after He's removal.}

^{The Pentagon noted last November in its annual report on the Chinese military that Xi’s anticorruption campaign had spread to every branch of the military, including its nuclear forces, and “is very likely creating reverberations within ... and may be raising questions among leadership about force readiness.”}

^{The report said that while the number of personnel removed “likely has implications” for the Chinese military’s progress toward its modernization goals by 2027, the 100th anniversary of its founding, “it is difficult to ascertain how significant these implications have been.”}

^{“Despite plausible short-term impacts to readiness, China remains committed to its strategic goals, with the ongoing anticorruption campaign having the potential to improve PLA readiness in the long term,” it added.}

^{China’s leadership appeared to put a positive spin on the news, using the PLA editorial to say that the military would emerge from the investigations as a stronger force.}

^{“It has been well demonstrated that the more the military combats corruption, the stronger and purer it becomes, with greater combat capacity,” the editorial said. “The more thoroughly corruption is eradicated, the more confident and capable the armed forces will be in achieving the centenary goals of the PLA.”}