Lingling Wei

Xi has now purged five of the six senior generals he handpicked only three years ago to lead the military.

So it is quite unprecedented.

It basically represents the hollowing out of the Chinese military's high command.

So by clearing the decks, Xi Jinping ensures that no senior military figure has the authority to challenge his decisions or vision.

So both men are descendants of revolutionary elders.

Zhang's father was a three-star general who fought alongside Xi Jinping's father during the Chinese Civil War under Mao Zedong.

So their families were very close, and they were very close as well.

You know, they're childhood friends.

Xi even called him Big Brother when they were younger.

And, you know, later on, Xi really personally elevated Zhang through the ranks and naming him the number one general in 2022, even allowing him to stay past normal retirement ages.

Zhang has been very important for Xi Jinping's effort to modernize the People's Liberation Army, to build it into a world-class fighting force.

Zhang Youxia has played an instrumental role in restructuring the military, centralizing power into the top.

So he had been a very trusted ally to Xi Jinping.

The state media has published some articles, you know, really...

trying to, you know, paint him as someone who's been challenging Xi's authority and even, you know, hurting the process, the progress of the modernization effort.

But so far, the government or the state media hasn't really detailed the specific allegations against him.

It was very high-level, closed-door briefing.

And the senior leadership of the military, People's Liberation Army, basically briefed senior officers on some of the specific allegations the party had of Zhang Youxia.

So we were told by our sources familiar with the briefing that the alleged leaks involved some technical data.

We don't know any additional details.