James Kynge

And that is that it is a complete black box.

When things like this happen, when a really big event like this happens, we get all kinds of interpretations and rumors flooding across social media and in the media all over the world.

And I think, therefore, the important thing is

at times like this is to not exceed what we know for sure.

I can honestly say in more than 35 years of China journalism, and 18 of those years were in China itself, I think I only knew one Western journalist who could count on regular sources at the very top echelon of the Chinese Communist Party.

I'm not saying that there weren't others that I didn't know that had that kind of access, but that kind of access really is extremely rare.

So what I would say at this moment is these are the bare facts of what we know, according to the official Chinese media, that Zhang Youxia, who was vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, which, as you've just said, Alice, is the premium premier body in charge of China's army, navy and air force.

And this guy, Zhang Yuxia, was China's most senior uniformed officer.

He has now been placed under investigation.

And when an investigation is announced like this in China, you can be pretty much sure that your fate is sealed.

It's not a case of you're going to be found not guilty by the legal system.

You are going to be taken down.

We can say that pretty much for sure.

Now, part of what he is charged with was corruption, but that's not so interesting because, frankly, there have been hundreds, if not thousands, of cases of corruption in China's military going back over the last decade.

The really fascinating line or phrase was that he had, quote, "...severely trampled on and damaged the chairman responsibility system."

Now, I will explain the chairman responsibility system in a minute, but effectively what that meant is that he had gone against Xi Jinping politically in some way.

It could have been anything from disobedience to treason to plotting or something else.

We just don't know exactly what that means.

The chairman responsibility system, though, is absolutely clear.

That is that the chairman of the Central Military Commission, which, as we've just been talking about, is the top military body, commands all of the Navy, the Army, and the Air Force.