Amid sweeping military corruption probes, China’s leader signals deep unease about control over the armed forces
Xi’s Warning Exposes the Fragility Behind the Iron Fist
At a plenary session held during China’s annual Two Sessions gathering in Beijing, Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an unusually blunt warning to the People’s Liberation Army: incomplete loyalty to the party would not be tolerated. Speaking to a delegation of PLA and Chinese People’s Armed Police Force representatives, Xi made clear that corruption within the military ranks must be pursued with unwavering determination, and that no space exists for those whose allegiance falls short of total. The remarks, delivered in March 2026 during the 14th National People’s Congress session, were immediately notable for their urgency – and for what they reveal about the true state of China’s military after years of unprecedented purges.
What the Rhetoric Reveals
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council was quick to interpret Xi’s remarks for what analysts believe they are: a signal of genuine anxiety rather than commanding confidence. MAC Deputy Minister Shen Yu-chung, speaking at a Taipei forum, said that Xi’s words – combined with a directive from Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Shengmin ordering “the whole military to follow Xi’s command” – reflected the Chinese leadership’s deep unease about its actual control of the armed forces. This is not the language of a leader secure in his authority. It is the language of a leader who has watched trusted military officers fall in corruption scandals and now fears that the rot runs deeper than the purges have yet reached. Starting with the Equipment Development Department and expanding to the PLA Rocket Force, Xi has presided over the most sweeping purge of Chinese military leadership since the founding of the People’s Republic. Multiple generals have been removed, investigated, and in some cases disappeared from public view entirely. The Rocket Force – responsible for China’s nuclear and conventional missile arsenal – has been particularly devastated, with its former leadership removed en masse amid allegations of fraud involving the procurement of missiles that may not even function as advertised.
A Military Built for Political Loyalty, Not Combat Effectiveness
The implications for China’s actual military capability are profound and underappreciated in Western strategic assessments. Xi has repeatedly emphasized what he calls political army building – the subordination of military effectiveness to ideological conformity and personal loyalty to himself. But a military optimized for political reliability is not the same as a military optimized for combat. Officers who prioritize loyalty over competence, and who fear reporting bad news up the chain of command, produce institutional dysfunction of exactly the kind that Xi’s purges suggest is already well advanced. The RAND Corporation’s China research has documented the tensions between China’s ambitions for a world-class military and the structural distortions introduced by the CCP’s insistence on party supremacy over professional military judgment. These tensions do not disappear through purges – they deepen.
Lawfare and the NPC’s Taiwan Gambit
The Two Sessions also produced another notable development: the NPC Standing Committee announced it would establish October 25 as the official “Day of Taiwan’s Restoration.” The move is a calculated piece of legal and narrative warfare, using Chinese domestic law to declare a date that frames Taiwan’s post-World War II history as a moment of “returning” to Chinese sovereignty – a framing Taiwan and the international community firmly reject. Former Tunghai University researcher Hung Pu-chao described the move bluntly as lawfare – the deliberate weaponization of legal instruments to advance territorial claims and shape international narratives without firing a shot.
What the Purges Mean for Regional Security
For Taiwan, Japan, and the United States, the PLA’s internal dysfunction carries ambiguous strategic implications. On one hand, a military wracked by corruption, loyalty tests, and command uncertainty is a less effective fighting force. On the other hand, a leader who feels compelled to demand loyalty in such public terms may be more prone to miscalculation – to using external military adventurism as a domestic political tool when internal pressures mount. The CSIS China Power Project has consistently highlighted the gap between China’s projected military capabilities and the operational realities behind the propaganda facade. Xi’s purges may be closing some of that gap, or they may be deepening it – analysts are genuinely uncertain which. What is clear is that the PLA Xi is building is designed above all to be his instrument, not China’s. MAC Deputy Minister Shen Yu-chung put the democratic case plainly: Taiwan’s only path forward is solidarity and continued strengthening of its democratic institutions. Cooperation with the United States and Japan remains essential. No amount of CCP military theater should distract from the fundamental reality that democracy, openness, and rule of law remain the most durable foundations of genuine security. For deeper analysis, the Jamestown Foundation China Brief tracks PLA developments with exceptional rigor, while the IISS China and East Asia program provides essential strategic context for understanding what Xi’s military reforms mean for the Indo-Pacific.
Wing Sum
Arts, Culture & History Journalist, Apple Daily UK
Contact: wingsum@appledaily.uk
Wing Sum is an arts, culture, and history journalist with professional experience documenting cultural heritage, artistic expression, and historical memory within Chinese-speaking communities. She received her journalism education at a prestigious Chinese journalism school, where she specialized in cultural reporting, archival research, and ethical storytelling.
Her work at Apple Daily and other liberal Chinese magazines and newspapers includes coverage of literature, film, visual arts, and the preservation of collective memory. Wing Sum’s reporting is grounded in interviews with artists, historians, and cultural practitioners, supported by archival sources and scholarly research.
She brings newsroom experience in balancing cultural critique with factual accuracy and historical context. Editors value her careful sourcing and resistance to sensationalism when covering sensitive historical topics.
Wing Sum’s authority is reinforced by sustained publication within established media institutions and adherence to editorial standards governing accuracy and attribution. At Apple Daily UK, she contributes culturally rigorous journalism rooted in experience, research, and professional integrity.
