China’s military purge fuels doubts over Beijing’s combat readiness, report warns
Removal of senior PLA leaders raises concerns about stability, Taiwan timelines and US–China dialogue

A sweeping purge within China’s armed forces has cast fresh doubt over Beijing’s military preparedness and internal stability, according to a new analysis that highlights growing uncertainty at the top of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
An article published by the Bulgaria-based journal Modern Diplomacy points to the abrupt removal of General Zhang Youxia, once among the most powerful figures in the PLA and a close associate of President Xi Jinping, as a turning point that has unsettled China’s military hierarchy.
What initially appeared to be isolated allegations of corruption have, the report argues, evolved into a far-reaching clean-up that has stripped the PLA of large sections of its senior leadership. Over the past two years, dozens, and possibly hundreds, of high-ranking officers have reportedly been dismissed, including commanders from strategically critical units.
According to the analysis, an unusually high number of those removed came from China’s nuclear forces, the Eastern Theatre Command responsible for Taiwan, and elite formations based in Beijing. The pattern, it said, suggests a purge driven as much by political consolidation and mistrust as by anti-corruption efforts.
The report noted that the traditionally seven-member Central Military Commission has effectively been reduced to President Xi and Zhang Shengmin, who heads the PLA’s discipline and inspection apparatus. This, it argued, has created a lopsided structure in which political oversight remains intact while professional military leadership has been severely depleted.
Zhang Youxia’s dismissal in January came just months after he met US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Beijing in August 2024, a meeting intended to stabilise military-to-military communication between the two powers. That channel now appears close to collapse, the report said, undermining efforts to prevent accidents or miscalculations in increasingly tense air, sea and cyber domains.
The timing is especially sensitive, the analysis added, as President Xi has reportedly directed the PLA to be capable of prevailing in a conflict over Taiwan by 2027, a deadline accelerated from earlier long-term targets. With that date approaching, the scale of the purge points to deep dissatisfaction and possible distrust within the highest levels of command.
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Official explanations have focused on corruption, with accusations that senior officers misused defence funds and allowed institutional decay. Some PLA-linked publications have even described the force as a “paper tiger”, an unusually stark characterisation for a military Beijing has long portrayed as modern and formidable.
The report suggested two unsettling possibilities: either China’s leadership believes corruption has seriously weakened the PLA, or it is projecting weakness while quietly maintaining strength. Both scenarios, it warned, carry risks, undermining deterrence in the first case, or increasing the danger of miscalculation in the second.
Concerns have also been raised about China’s expanding nuclear arsenal, amid reports of mismanagement within missile units. Whether accurate or overstated, such accounts are said to be fuelling anxiety and suspicion within the ranks.
Perhaps the most immediate impact, the analysis concluded, is the erosion of US–China military engagement. Contacts that once involved senior commanders have dwindled, with many of the officers Washington sought to engage reportedly removed. If communication with foreign counterparts is now viewed as risky or disloyal, future dialogue could become impossible.
For Taiwan, the report suggested, the silence from Beijing’s generals may be more unsettling than overt threats. For Washington, reliance on intelligence rather than dialogue makes managing competition between two nuclear-armed powers more fragile. For Xi, the purge reflects both authority and insecurity, a calculated gamble that loyalty can replace experience.
The greatest danger, the article concluded, may not be the imminence of war, but a growing environment in which misjudgements are easier to make and far harder to correct.
With IANS inputs
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