China's Disappearing Generals

0:05In the halls of power in China, President Xi Jinping has fought a quiet battle for control of the country's armed forces. Last month, he fired his top general in a massive shakeup of the Chinese military. General Zhang Youxia, the senior most general and number two of the Central Military Commission, which is basically the Chinese military's decision-making body, was under investigation for, quote, severe violations of party discipline and state laws. General Zhang Yuxia was once considered Xi Jinping's right-hand man, vital to the People's Liberation Army. And now he's under arrest. Zhang is the most senior active-duty military officer to be ousted and put under investigation by Xi Jinping and the highest-ranking military figure purged in decades.

1:05So that announcement was really a bombshell. The Chinese military gave few details about the investigation into Zhang. But our colleague Lingling Wei has been trying to figure out what led to his removal. And she learned that Zhang Yousha was accused of a litany of crimes, including bribery, corruption, and the leaking of nuclear weapons secrets to the United States. But our reporting does not confirm whether those allegations are true or not. Beijing's internal explanations do not always reflect the complete or even true motivation behind Xi Jinping's decisions. It's a huge black box.

1:55What we do know is that the Chinese military has been ramping up its purges of top officials. 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. And Zhang is the most high-profile figure to be fired so far. Ling Ling says that now, Xi Jinping has the sole command of the Chinese armed forces. So by clearing the decks, Xi Jinping ensures that no senior military figure has the authority to challenge his decisions or vision. And that could have huge implications for Beijing, especially when it comes to foreign policy.

2:57Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Wednesday, February 11th.

3:10Coming up on the show, the political implications of the fall of General Zhang Yuzha.

3:32Zhang Yuxia has been the People's Liberation Army's top general since 2022. But his relationship to Xi Jinping goes way back, to the very beginning of communist China. October 1st, 1949. In Beiping, Mao Zedong inaugurates the so-called Chinese People's Republic. The communist victory has been won in the face of what two years before seemed insurmountable obstacles. 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.

4:24You know, their childhood friends, Xi even called him Big Brother when they were younger. The two men took different paths to the top of the Chinese Communist Party. Zhang Yuxia climbed the ranks of the People's Liberation Army, while Xi Jinping became a statesman. Zhang would rise to the rank of general in 2011, and Xi would take his seat at the head of the country two years later. And they stayed close. 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 is 75 years old.

5:10How important has Zhang been to the military? 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 instrumental role in restructuring the military, centralizing power into the top. So he had been a very trusted ally to Xi Jinping. But late last month, it became obvious that the relationship had changed. On January 24th, China's Ministry of National Defense made a shocking announcement. General Zhang was under investigation. Publicly, the government, which usually speaks through the state media, didn't say much.

6:04The 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. Lingling wanted to know more about why Zhang was fired. So she started making calls.

6:47And Lingling learned that the morning before the announcement, a briefing took place, one that involved top military officials. It was very secretive. 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. According to people familiar with the briefing, Zhang is under investigation for various crimes against the Chinese state and the Communist Party. The most serious allegation is that Zhang had been leaking nuclear weapons secrets to the United States.

7:35What did that look like as far as we know? What was Zhang allegedly giving the U.S.? 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. And again, we haven't been able to verify those allegations, whether they were true or not. There were other allegations as well. Authorities called Zhang corrupt, accusing him of taking bribes. And they accused him of forming what the Chinese Communist Party refers to as political cliques. What the party messaging meant is that he garnered too much influence, so much as to somehow have challenged Xi Jinping's control of the military.

8:33is basically he simply has got too powerful for the top leader. Many analysts have said Xi's growing paranoia suggests that he views any officer or senior official, you know, someone with the statue of Zhang Yuxia, who has, you know, independent influence. A Chinese defense ministry spokesman warned against unfounded speculation and referred back to the original announcement of the probe into Zhang's alleged violations.

9:09Is this sort of accusation and ousting, is this common in China? Is it a tool that the party generally uses? Yeah, you know, it is quite common in China in the party's history. whenever they want to take down some high-level officials, the party would, you know, do everything, say everything to try to discredit this person and make sure that the public accepts this person's downfall as justified. And what's happening now, is it any different from what we've seen in the past? So the speed and scale of this turnover was unmatched in the post-Mao Zedong era. Xi Jinping has been carrying out significant crackdowns on Chinese military since 2023.

10:14And more than 50 senior military officers and defense industry executives have been investigated or removed. And Zhang Yuxia is the latest. She now is firmly in charge of the Chinese military. By purging even his closest personal friend, Xi has signaled that there are no limits to his zeal for loyalty. And the move suggests that any officer with too much independent power is viewed as a threat to Xi's chain of command. And the reason maintaining control of the chain of command is so important has to do with an island off China's coast. That's next.

11:19Taiwan has been in China's sights for decades. The island has been self-governing since 1949 and became a vibrant democracy starting in the late 1980s. As you know, China considers Taiwan this self-governing democracy as part of its territory. The ultimate goal is to reunify the mainland with Taiwan. That's what the Chinese term is, reunification. and Xi Jinping has claimed that reunification with Taiwan is basically ultimate prize for him. It's not exactly clear when China might push to reunify with Taiwan or what that might look like. But China's push to modernize its military offers a clue.

12:08Xi Jinping has set 2027 as a deadline for this modernization effort. The year coincides with the centennial of the People's Liberation Army. And that's often interpreted by many analysts inside and outside China also as a deadline for the military's combat readiness to take Taiwan.

12:33Disagreement over this deadline may have driven the rift between Zhang Yuxia and Xi Jinping. According to analyst research, Zhang had advocated for the Chinese military to delay its modernization efforts, pushing the deadline closer to 2035. I spoke to this analyst at Jamestown Foundation, and his analysis shows that, you know, this disagreement over the ultimate prize for Xi Jinping could have amounted to a direct challenge to Xi Jinping's political agenda, because reclaiming Taiwan is a key part of Xi's political agenda. So that's one interpretation. And now, with the removal of Zhang Yuxia, any internal authoritative voices that could have slowed Xi's hand or provided objective advice on Taiwan are basically gone.

13:33Xi is now the sole voice directing strategy toward the island. Some analysts say purging the top ranks of the military may have damaged the chain of command, potentially making an invasion less likely. But open military conflict isn't the only way Xi can put pressure on Taiwan. Xi is shifting toward really a much broader, coerced campaign against Taiwan. That includes maritime blockades, all those military exercises, cyber attacks on Taiwanese infrastructure, and diplomatic battles, all aimed at breaking Taipei's resolve without open conflict. So yes, the risks of a military invasion have receded.

14:26However, China will continue to increase military pressure on Taiwan because that's a core part of this coercive campaign against Taiwan. One thing that has historically stood in the way of Xi Jinping's Taiwan ambitions is the United States. Previous administrations have explicitly said that the U.S. would come to the island's defense in the event of an attack by China. President Trump has not made that statement. Instead, Trump administration officials say the White House is focused on blunting Beijing's aggression by setting up defenses in the Pacific around China. Administration officials also say the U.S.

15:12has already reinforced its security ties with Taiwan through a strategically important semiconductor trade deal and a weapons sale agreement worth more than$11 billion. So overall, you know, based on our conversation with the administration, their goal is to really raise the cost of military action for China. And they want to prevent a Chinese military attack without engaging in needless confrontation. But Lingling says that rather than deter Xi from confronting Taiwan, these moves by the U.S. may be giving Xi more confidence. That confidence really stems from a fundamental reassessment of Washington's resolve to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.

16:06Beijing basically views President Trump as having little appetite for costly military intervention in the Taiwan street. You know, even the Trump administration's recent$11.1 billion arms sale to Taiwan, the largest in history, has been interpreted in Beijing as promoting the defense industry rather than a security commitment. That's according to analysts we spoke to.

16:41What does all of this tell you about where China is right now? Xi Jinping's view of the United States is that, you know, when he compares China's strengths to the U.S. national strengths, he felt like China is almost there. It's almost on par with the U.S. This moment is a pivotal moment in the Communist Party's history and it's a political earthquake in China. It really shows that Xi Jinping has full control. He has the soul power now to decide, you know, how the military should be trained, should be run, and it shows that he really has the absolute power over the party, over the military, and over the nation.

17:50That's all for today, Wednesday, February 11th. The Journal is a co-production of Spotify and The Wall Street Journal. Additional reporting in this episode by Chunhan Wong.

18:04Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow.