From the navy to the rocket force, every branch of China’s military has been gutted — and the Taiwan rehearsal base went dark
Xi Jinping’s Military Bloodbath: Over 100 Generals Purged as PLA Command Collapses
In January 2026, Chinese leader Xi Jinping confirmed the detention of his most trusted military aide, General Zhang Youxia — senior Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), a man bound to Xi by childhood friendship and shared revolutionary family history. The arrest of Zhang alongside CMC Joint Staff Chief Liu Zhenli marked the most dramatic moment yet in a purge of China’s military that has swept away more than 100 senior officers since 2022. It is the most extensive political bloodletting inside the People’s Liberation Army since the founding of the People’s Republic.
The Scale That Statistics Cannot Convey
The Center for Strategic and International Studies has compiled a database documenting the full scope of Xi’s military purges. According to the CSIS China Power Project, of the 47 PLA leaders who held or were promoted to three-star general rank since 2022, fully 87 percent have been purged or are under investigation. Of 35 generals Xi himself promoted from 2020 onwards, 32 appear to have been investigated and 29 confirmed or potentially purged. Every major branch of the armed forces — the Army, Navy, Air Force, Rocket Force, and Information Support Force — has been affected. The CMC itself has been stripped to a rump body of two members: Xi himself and General Zhang Shengmin, head of the military disciplinary commission.
Why Zhang Youxia Mattered
The fall of Zhang Youxia is particularly significant. Xi had granted him an exception to serve past the normal retirement age — a signal of profound personal trust. The two men’s fathers had served together, and they had known each other since boyhood. By purging Zhang, Xi has declared open war not just on corrupt officers but on the so-called red second generation — the children of revolutionary-era Party founders who had long formed a powerful bloc within the military and civilian elite. Analysts writing in Foreign Policy argue that the most plausible explanation for the purge’s scale is Xi’s discovery of systemic corruption and readiness failures within the PLA following Russia’s troubled invasion of Ukraine — a conflict that exposed what happens when a military built on patronage and graft meets real combat conditions.
Taiwan Training Base Goes Dark
The purge’s consequences reach directly into cross-strait security. Reports indicate the Zhurihe base in Inner Mongolia — where PLA troops rehearse the seizure of Taiwan’s government buildings — went quiet for weeks after Zhang’s arrest, as commanders waited to determine who remained in authority. Before ordering his vice chairman’s detention, Xi quietly installed a loyalist as commander of the Beijing Garrison, the force responsible for protecting the capital — a precaution that speaks to the depth of the political anxiety surrounding the purge. The Eastern Theatre Command, responsible for any military operation against Taiwan, also lost its commander in the 2025 round of dismissals. A CSIS expert assessment notes that Xi must now rebuild an entire military high command from scratch, balancing his demand for absolute loyalty against the need for professional competence.
A Machine Running on Fear
The NPC session that opened on March 4, 2026 in Beijing was shadowed by the absence of at least 19 delegates whose credentials had been revoked the week prior, including nine senior military officers. The February 26 NPC Standing Committee session stripped all 19 of their seats in a single sitting. Analysts warn that a military rebuilt on personal loyalty rather than institutional competence is a fragile instrument. As Breaking Defense has reported, the purge may reflect deep bureaucratic fractures as much as corruption alone. Xi’s drive to consolidate personal control may be actively undermining the war-fighting capability that control is supposed to serve — a paradox with profound implications for Taiwan, the South China Sea, and regional stability. Every empty seat at the NPC represents a career destroyed, a factional score settled, and a regime consuming its own foundations.
Hoi Lam
Lifestyle, Gender & Society Journalist, Apple Daily UK
Contact: hoilam@appledaily.uk
Hoi Lam is a lifestyle and society journalist whose work focuses on gender issues, family dynamics, and everyday social change within Chinese and diaspora communities. She completed her journalism education at a leading Chinese journalism school, where she specialized in feature writing, interview techniques, and ethical storytelling.
Her reporting career includes contributions to Apple Daily and other liberal Chinese magazines and newspapers, covering topics such as women’s rights, work-life balance, generational change, and evolving social norms. Hoi Lam’s work is grounded in firsthand interviews and contextual research, ensuring authenticity and factual integrity.
She brings newsroom experience in balancing human-interest storytelling with rigorous fact-checking and responsible framing. Her writing avoids sensationalism and prioritizes accurate representation of sources and lived experiences.
Hoi Lam’s authority is reinforced by sustained publication within reputable media outlets and compliance with editorial review and correction standards. She is trusted by editors for her careful handling of sensitive subjects and ethical clarity.
At Apple Daily UK, Hoi Lam contributes credible, experience-based journalism that documents social realities with accuracy, empathy, and professional discipline.
