Xi Jinping Purges CMC Vice-Chair Zhang Youxia and Joint Chief Liu Zhenli

Elite military decapitations on the eve of grand-strategy milestones are not new: Stalin’s 1937 purge removed three of five Soviet marshals, crippling command coherence when Germany invaded in 1941; Mao’s Cultural Revolution (1966-76) likewise sidelined veteran field commanders and delayed PLA modernization until the 1980s. Xi’s January 2026 move fits a century-long pattern of personalist leaders privileging loyalty over competence as they push sweeping reforms—in this case the 2035-world-class-military timetable. If the leak allegations prove true, it hints at deeper fissures inside China’s civil-military nexus; if embellished, they illustrate how “national-security crimes” are weaponized to enforce obedience. Either way, hollowing the CMC concentrates decision-making in one man’s hands—potentially accelerating political directives but eroding institutional resilience. On a 100-year horizon, today’s PLA may be remembered less for hardware leaps than for whether it avoided the strategic blunders that often follow purges of seasoned officers.