China Expels Xi's Closest Military Ally From Party — SkimNews
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- Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli were expelled from the Communist Party and military on Sept 21 for disloyalty, corruption, and forming "cliques and factions," with state media citing "exceptionally large" sums and "political and economic wrongdoing intertwined."
- Zhang, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission and long seen as Xi Jinping's closest military ally, and Liu, chief of staff of the Joint Staff Department, had probes announced in January and were removed from the CMC in late August.
- The expulsions leave just two active members on the formerly seven-member Central Military Commission, including Xi himself as chair, after years of Xi-led purges swept through the military.
- Former CIA analyst Dennis Wilder called the disloyalty charges "unprecedented," saying they "harken back to the days of Mao" and signal Xi saw Zhang as a serious challenge to his authority.
- The announcement came days before Xi is set to travel to the US for talks with Donald Trump and weeks before an October party conclave on internal governance and discipline.
Why it matters: Xi Jinping's decade-long anti-corruption campaign has now consumed his own closest military ally, reducing the Central Military Commission to just two active members including himself. The disloyalty framing — not corruption — is what makes this purge historically unusual, per Wilder, and the timing forces the shadow of a gutted military command over both Xi's Trump meeting and the upcoming October governance conclave.
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