China Expels Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli as Disloyalty Allegations Deepen Questions over Military Purge and Due Process
Updated: 53 minutes ago
Beijing, 21 September 2026
China's Politburo on Monday approved the expulsion of Zhang Youxia, formerly the senior vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Liu Zhenli, formerly a commission member and chief of its Joint Staff Department, from the Chinese Communist Party and the armed forces. Their suspected criminal conduct is to be transferred to military prosecutors for review and prosecution. The authorities accused both men of breaching political discipline, forming factions, being disloyal and dishonest to the party, and engaging in corruption involving 'exceptionally large' sums alongside dereliction of duty and abuse of office. Reuters; Financial Times
The action is the latest and most severe step since the Defence Ministry announced investigations into the two men in January and the National People's Congress Standing Committee removed them from the state Central Military Commission in August. Zhang had been China's highest-ranking serving general, second only to President Xi Jinping in the commission. Liu headed the Joint Staff Department. Their removal leaves only Xi and vice-chairman Zhang Shengmin as active members of a body that originally had seven members. Reuters, 21 September; Reuters, 28 August
The decision has substantial public-interest significance. It further reconstructs the top of China's military command while placing 'political disloyalty' and faction-building at the centre of the official case, sharpening the relationship between anti-corruption enforcement, military loyalty and supreme political authority. The published announcement does not, however, identify particular transactions, sums, dates, participants or evidence. Referral to prosecutors is not a judicial finding of guilt.
Political and economic allegations presented together
Xinhua, citing official documents, said Zhang and Liu had 'seriously violated political discipline and political rules', formed cliques and factions, and been disloyal and dishonest to the party. It said their 'political and economic wrongdoings were intertwined' and that corrupt self-enrichment coexisted with dereliction of duty and abuse of office. The two were also accused of abandoning party principles, failing to enforce strict party discipline and failing properly to supervise staff and relatives. Reuters
The official account described the sums involved as exceptionally large, the nature of the conduct as extremely serious and its effect as exceptionally egregious. It did not provide a range for the alleged proceeds or identify assets, payers, beneficiaries, procurement decisions or promotions that could be checked from outside the system. Reuters and the Financial Times independently reported the expulsions and principal accusations, but the core allegations in both reports derive from official documents relayed by Xinhua, rather than case files obtained independently. Reuters; Financial Times
The leadership did not publicly identify the people said to constitute the factions or specify the conduct represented by 'disloyalty and dishonesty'. Dennis Wilder, a senior fellow at Georgetown University and former CIA China analyst, told Reuters that corruption allegations against senior People's Liberation Army officers were familiar, whereas explicit allegations of disloyalty and faction-building were unprecedented in this context. If substantiated, he said, they might indicate that Xi regarded the conduct as a serious challenge to his authority and political position. Reuters
That is an external analyst's inference from the official wording. It is not public proof of a coup plot, organised opposition to military orders or a co-ordinated political challenge. No public document located for this report substantiates online claims about a specific power struggle, differences over Taiwan policy or an attempted mutiny. Those unverified accounts are not reported here as fact.
Investigation removal and referral for prosecution
The Defence Ministry announced on 24 January that Zhang and Liu were being investigated for suspected serious violations of discipline and law, without specifying the alleged acts. Zhang was not only the commission's first-ranked vice-chairman but also a Politburo member and one of the few senior commanders with combat experience. Liu was responsible for the Joint Staff Department, which supports joint operational planning and command. Reuters, January; Associated Press
On 28 August, the National People's Congress Standing Committee removed both men from the state Central Military Commission and terminated their status as national legislators. That action confirmed the loss of their state military offices but did not then settle their party discipline. Monday's Politburo decision expelled them from the party and armed forces and transferred the suspected criminal matters to military prosecutors. The Financial Times reported that the party expulsions approved by the Politburo remain subject to ratification by the Central Committee. Reuters, 28 August; Financial Times
The three steps have different legal characters. Discipline investigation and expulsion from the party belong to the Communist Party's internal process; removal from the state commission was an act by a state institution; referral to military prosecutors places the cases in the criminal review and prosecution process. The official wording refers to 'suspected criminal conduct', which means criminal responsibility still requires prosecutorial and judicial determination and is not completed automatically by a Politburo disciplinary decision.
Military judicial process has not been disclosed
China's Criminal Procedure Law says court hearings are generally public unless the law provides otherwise, defendants have the right to a defence, nobody may be found guilty without a lawful judgment by a people's court, and courts, procuratorates and public-security organs must protect the defence and other procedural rights of suspects, defendants and other participants. Legal translation published by the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China; defence provisions published by China's Supreme People's Court
The Supreme People's Court's English introduction says military courts exercise jurisdiction over specified criminal cases involving such people as active servicemen and military payroll workers and operate at three levels. It also says military procurators at the corresponding level may attend meetings of a military court's adjudication committee. Supreme People's Court of China
At the time this report was completed, the authorities had not identified the military procuratorate handling either case, published formal charges or an evidential summary, disclosed where the men were held, named defence counsel, confirmed whether relatives could instruct lawyers, or set a hearing date. No public response to the allegations was located from Zhang, Liu, their families or lawyers acting for them. The publicly supportable position is therefore limited: party, state and military sanctions have been imposed and the cases have entered the procuratorial stage. The evidence cannot yet be assessed independently, nor can it be confirmed whether the men have been able to exercise defence rights effectively.
Those limitations do not establish that the official allegations are false. Procurement, promotion and project-management systems in the armed forces have long presented corruption risks. Xi has made the PLA a central target of his anti-corruption campaign since taking power in 2012, with the Rocket Force, equipment system and numerous senior officers investigated or disciplined since 2023. Reuters, January; Reuters, October 2025
In the absence of a public indictment, hearing record or reasoned judgment, however, a disciplinary body's conclusions cannot be treated as judicial facts tested through an adversarial process. Anti-corruption action may combine genuine integrity enforcement, organisational reform and management of political loyalty. The relative importance of those elements in the cases against Zhang and Liu cannot yet be determined from public material.
Two active members remain on the top commission
The Central Military Commission is China's highest military command body. The present commission, selected in 2022, originally had seven members. Successive investigations, removals and expulsions have left only chairman Xi and vice-chairman Zhang Shengmin in active office. Zhang Shengmin also leads the commission's discipline-inspection system, and his increased institutional prominence underscores the central position of discipline supervision in current military governance. Reuters; Reuters, 28 August
Long vacancies at the highest level may affect internal co-ordination, promotion, procurement and strategic decision-making, but the public record does not demonstrate that ordinary command has ceased to function. James Char of the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore told Reuters in January that second-line PLA officers could perform vacant functions on an interim basis and that the military's modernisation programme could continue. Reuters, January
Nor does turnover in the commission by itself prove a change in China's short-term military intentions towards Taiwan or other security disputes. It makes the chain of command, civilian control and continuity of decision-making harder for outsiders to assess. Readiness and operational planning remain areas that cannot be verified from the material presently available.
Beijing presents the action as discipline and anti-corruption enforcement
China's government and the Communist Party have consistently presented the military purge as a campaign against corruption, in support of discipline and the party's absolute leadership over the armed forces. Xi chaired Monday's Politburo meeting. Alongside the decisions concerning Zhang and Liu, it scheduled a Central Committee plenum for 26-29 October to discuss rigorous party self-governance, stronger political supervision and prominent problems in party-building. Reuters on the Politburo meeting
That official position places the cases within an institutional anti-corruption and organisational-discipline framework. Action against a figure as closely and historically associated with Xi as Zhang can also be used to support the government's claim that seniority and personal connections provide no immunity from investigation. Placing loyalty allegations beside criminal corruption nevertheless shows that the standard being applied includes not only property offences capable of judicial determination but also internal political conduct and organisational relationships.
The official documents relayed by Xinhua and the account of Monday's Politburo meeting constitute the Chinese side's present public response. The English-language official and major international sources reviewed for this report contained no further answer on procedural transparency, access to lawyers, whether any trial will be open, or when supporting evidence may be released.
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