Xi’s Purge of Top General Spurs Questions on Taiwan, Succession

President Xi Jinping’s move to probe his top general and one-time ally Zhang Youxia is the most stunning development yet in China’s biggest military purge in roughly half a century. It also has implications for Taiwan, succession and further turmoil in the Communist Party ranks.

The corruption investigation against Zhang, once described as a “sworn brother” to Xi and his siblings, marks the extraordinary downfall of a Communist Party war hero with decades of family ties to China’s top leader. It leaves the highest decision-making body of the People’s Liberation Army decimated, with only one uniformed officer left to serve under Xi, 72, on the Central Military Commission, which included six generals when his third term began in 2022.