“No one is safe in Beijing because Xi puts the party above any individual,” says Neil Thomas, a fellow on Chinese politics at the Asia Society think tank, referring to the biggest military purge since the rule of Chairman Mao, led by Xi Jinping. Subscribe ► https://www.youtube.com/user/guardianwires?sub_confirmation=1 China’s defence ministry announced on Saturday that Zhang Youxia, China’s highest-ranking general, and Liu Zhenli, another member of the Central Military Commission, were under investigation for “suspected serious violations of discipline and law”. A recent editorial published in the official army newspaper said that Zhang and Liu “fostered political and corruption problems that undermined the party’s absolute leadership over the military and threatened the party’s ruling foundation”. But experts suggest Xi Jinping is asserting his authority by sidelining officers who have significantly betrayed his trust. “The purge isn’t about corruption (...), it is about a general that became too powerful,” says Dennis Wilder, a senior fellow at Georgetown University and a former senior CIA analyst. Zhang is descended from Communist party elites and was seen as a close ally of the president. “He was also highly trusted to handle the most important military matters,” our senior China correspondent Amy Hawkins reports. Watch this video as Amy explains why the scalping of a figure as senior as Zhang in Xi’s anti-graft campaign raises questions about the stability of China’s military leadership.
Why has Xi Jinping targeted his closest ally in purge?
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“No one is safe in Beijing because Xi puts the party above any individual,” says Neil Thomas, a fellow on Chinese politics at the Asia Society think tank, referring to the biggest military purge since the rule of Chairman Mao, led by Xi Jinping. Subscribe ► https://www.youtube.com/user/guardianwires?sub_confirmation=1 China’s defence ministry announced on Saturday that Zhang Youxia, China’s highest-ranking general, and Liu Zhenli, another member of the Central Military Commission, were under investigation for “suspected serious violations of discipline and law”. A recent editorial published in the official army newspaper said that Zhang and Liu “fostered political and corruption problems that undermined the party’s absolute leadership over the military and threatened the party’s ruling foundation”. But experts suggest Xi Jinping is asserting his authority by sidelining officers who have significantly betrayed his trust. “The purge isn’t about corruption (...), it is about a general that became too powerful,” says Dennis Wilder, a senior fellow at Georgetown University and a former senior CIA analyst. Zhang is descended from Communist party elites and was seen as a close ally of the president. “He was also highly trusted to handle the most important military matters,” our senior China correspondent Amy Hawkins reports. Watch this video as Amy explains why the scalping of a figure as senior as Zhang in Xi’s anti-graft campaign raises questions about the stability of China’s military leadership.
