China removes high-ranking officers from key military body

China removed two high-ranking officers from the country’s main military body on Friday (August 28, 2026), state media reported, seven months after it was announced that Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli were being investigated for “serious violations of the law.”

Mr. Zhang’s position as the more senior of two vice chairmen on the Central Military Commission (CMC) had made him China’s highest-ranked general.

In January, though, the Defence Ministry said that Mr. Zhang and Mr. Liu were “suspected of serious violations of discipline and the law”, a common euphemism for corruption.

The announcement fit into the sweeping anti-graft drive that has defined President Xi Jinping’s time in power — but Mr. Zhang’s fall from grace in particular shocked observers, given his seniority and the perception he was close to Mr. Xi.

On Friday (August 28, 2026), state news agency Xinhua said in a report on a meeting of the standing committee of China’s Parliament that “the meeting decided to remove Zhang Youxia from the post of Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People’s Republic of China”.

Mr. Liu, who was chief of staff of the CMC’s joint staff department, which oversees combat planning, was also removed, it said.

The CMC is China’s most important military decision-making body, chaired by President Xi.

Technically, there are two — a state CMC and a Communist Party CMC.

“For practical purposes, however, they are treated as the same in [China’s] bureaucracy,” Asia Society’s Lyle Morris has written.

Friday’s (August 28) announcement relates to Mr. Zhang and mr. Liu’s positions in the state CMC rather than the Party one.

Their removal will leave the CMC, which is supposed to have seven members, with only two known representatives: Mr. Xi and anti-corruption chief Zhang Shengmin.

Mr. Zhang and Mr. Liu’s whereabouts are unknown, and no details have been given regarding the accusations against them.

At the time the investigation was announced, an editorial in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Daily said the two men had “seriously trampled on and undermined the system of ultimate responsibility resting with the CMC chairman” — that is, Mr. Xi.