(Adnkronos) – Since 2023, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has ‘saved’ only one of the generals of the powerful Military Commission. Of the high-ranking officers immortalized with Zhang Youxia, who was sacked last weekend, in a photo that went viral that year, only one remains, Zhang Shengmin. The others, one after another, have been removed from office or are under investigation. Dozens of high-ranking officers have also been ousted. This is what the New York Times writes in an analysis that, starting from news from the Dragon’s media and official announcements, shines a spotlight on what it considers a “void” at the top of the Chinese Army after three years of “extraordinary purges” that have not spared his loyalists and have no precedent in modern Chinese history.
According to the newspaper’s analysis, at the beginning of 2023, China had at least 30 generals and admirals leading Theater Commands and units with specialized skills, and almost all of them have ‘disappeared’ or been sacked. In some cases, Xi had chosen new generals as ‘heirs’, but many have ‘disappeared’, at least publicly. According to the Nyt, only seven generals seem to maintain an active role.
The removal of General Zhang Youxia, along with General Liu Zhenli, has left the Central Military Commission without the commanders who prepare forces for combat, without two “operational” commanders, the analysis highlights. Meanwhile, Zhang Shengmin, promoted last October to vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, where he had been for some time, now appears, according to the newspaper, to be responsible for discipline and loyalty. There have also been ‘changes’ in the five Theater Commands, the regions created in 2016 by Xi for the Armed Forces, including the Eastern Theater, which covers operations around Taiwan, where a new commander arrived last year.
