Official announcements Chinese the authorities are terse and couched in the usual party language: Zhang Youxia is under investigation for "serious violations of discipline and law," which are often euphemisms for corrupt activities. However, the information leaked to the Western media, primarily through the "Wall Street Journal", indicates an even more difficult case - from corruption and trading in influence, through building its own loyalty network within the Chinese military. It is also suspected that this general took bribes in order to influence the advancements within the Central Military Commission, the most important body of the Communist Party in charge of military decisions.
Certainly the most shocking accusation is that of giving classified information about China's nuclear program to the United States of America.
"Red Prince" "Steel Elite"
If these claims are confirmed, it is one of the most serious security attacks in the recent history of the People's Republic of China. Because Zhang Yousia (75) was not just one of the numerous influential figures in the power system, but the second man in the hierarchy of the armed forces, a member of the Politburo and one of the few generals with actual combat experience.
As the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission - the supreme command body - Yousia has long been considered the closest military associate and most trusted person of the Chinese head of state. His biography fit the narrative of the "steel elite" of the Chinese military - from participation in the border wars with Vietnam in 1979 to a key role in the modernization of the army after 2012. Reuters recalls that he "remained in office past the normal retirement age in the Chinese military," suggesting that President Xi "until now" had a lot of confidence in him.
Photo: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, FileThe removal of the top general of the Chinese army
His personal relationship with Xi Jinping gives special weight to the case. Both belong to the so-called generation of "red princes", descendants of the revolutionary elite, whose families together created communist China. Zhang Youxia's father fought side by side with Xi Jinping's father during the Chinese Civil War after Mao Zedong took power in 1949. O bojica later occupied high positions, media remind.
This is precisely why many analysts believe that the dismissal and investigation against Zhang represent a signal that the President of China, due to growing problems with corruption of high officials, is no longer able to distinguish between political opponents and closest collaborators. Another school of thought states that Xi was forced to act because the general's power had exceeded its limits. In addition to Yousi, another senior military official, General Liu Zhenli, chief of the Joint Staff of the Central Military Commission, is under investigation.
Anti-corruption broom in the army
These cases, however, are not isolated incidents. China's military has become one of the main targets of Xi's anti-corruption campaign in recent years. Since 2023, dozens of high-ranking officers and officials of the defense industry have been replaced and come under the scrutiny of investigators. The sudden dismissal of two former ministers of defense and the expulsion of eight generals from the party further reinforced the impression that a fierce struggle for control and leadership is being waged within the system.
The Western media, it seems, could hardly wait for this case, turning the investigation against General Zhang into an occasion for broader analyzes of the stability of the Chinese power system and the personal authority of Xi Jinping. It has been described as "the most significant purge since the Mao era", and for insider security experts, Zhang Youxia's downfall raises a number of other questions. Many see it either as an "anti-corruption crackdown" or as an attempt to dismantle "parallel centers of power" in the army. The narrative is that the investigation reveals "weaknesses in the security system", but that above all it carries a clear political message - strengthening the loyalty of the army and the "consolidation of power" of President Xi ahead of the next phase of the military modernization of the People's Republic of China.
Whatever turns out to be the case, one thing is certain: this move changes the dynamics at the very top of the Chinese state, and the fact that a man who symbolized loyalty and stability for decades has "fallen" suggests that the period of internal purges is far from over. In a country where the army, along with the party, is the foundation of political power, such a crack will not remain without consequences - neither in Beijing, nor in the world that carefully monitors every sign of weakness of the second largest power on the planet.
