Beijing/This Monday, China expelled from the Communist Party (CCP) generals Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, two of the highest-ranking soldiers removed in the anti-corruption campaign in the Armed Forces, after accusing them of using their positions to favor third parties and accepting “huge sums of money,” among other infractions.
The CCP Politburo, one of the main decision-making bodies of the party, approved this Monday the reports on the investigations against Zhang, former vice president of the Central Military Commission (CMC) – the country’s highest military body – and Liu, former head of the organization’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Department, the official Xinhua agency reported.
The investigations concluded that both used their positions to help third parties obtain promotions and other benefits in exchange for large amounts of money, in addition to irregularly receiving gifts and payments.
The authorities also accused them of serious violations of political, organizational and labor discipline, of forming “cliques” within the Party and of not adequately supervising family members and subordinates.
The amounts involved were “particularly enormous” and the facts investigated could constitute serious crimes related to the exercise of their positions.
According to Xinhua, the amounts involved were “particularly enormous” and the facts investigated could constitute serious crimes related to the exercise of their positions. Their cases will be referred to the Military Prosecutor’s Office for examination and eventual prosecution.
Zhang and Liu will also lose their status as delegates to the 20th Congress of the CPC, while their expulsion from the Party must be ratified in a plenary session of the Central Committee.
Both had been under investigation since January for alleged “serious violations of discipline and the law,” a formula commonly used by Chinese authorities in corruption cases, and were formally removed from their positions at the CMC at the end of August.
Until his fall, Zhang was one of China’s highest-ranking military personnel, a member of the Politburo and vice president of the CMC, while Liu was part of that body and headed its Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Their dismissals left the CMC, the highest commanding body of the Chinese Armed Forces, reduced to just two members: the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, who heads it, and Zhang Shengmin, its only vice president, compared to the seven members with whom the current political cycle started after the 20th Congress of the CCP in 2022.
Their dismissals left the highest command body of the Chinese Armed Forces, reduced to only two members: the Chinese president and his only vice president.
The anti-corruption campaign in the Army has in recent years reached former Defense Ministers, those responsible for the Missile Force and other senior military commanders and which Beijing presents as part of reinforcing discipline, political loyalty and combat readiness.
Although this offensive, one of the central axes of Xi’s mandate, has brought to light numerous cases of bribery and abuse of power within the party and state apparatus, some observers have pointed out that it could also be used to remove certain figures from political life.
