Chinese general, born around 1950, aged 75 as of January 2026. Was China's most senior uniformed officer and the senior vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), which commands the armed forces and is headed by Xi Jinping.
Zhang's father was a three-star general who fought alongside Xi Jinping's father in China's civil war. The family connection between the Zhangs and the Xis goes back to that era. Zhang is one of the few Chinese military commanders with combat experience, having fought with distinction in clashes with Vietnam more than 40 years ago.
Drew Thompson, a former Pentagon official now at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, hosted a military delegation including Zhang on a visit to America in 2012. He described Zhang as having "an aura of competence" that set him apart from his peers. Other PLA generals and staff officers "stood up faster and straighter when he entered a room." During a tour of an army base, Zhang relished firing a machinegun and asking questions about American military technology and doctrine. Thompson said: "Seeing Zhang Youxia tour a military base and absorb what he was offered revealed an intellect that stood out from his peers."
Xi demonstrated his trust in Zhang by overseeing his appointment to the Politburo in 2017 and as the junior CMC vice-chairman. In 2022, when Xi secured a third term as party chief, Zhang became the senior CMC vice-chairman despite being 72—an age that would have disqualified him under previous retirement norms. Between 2012 and 2017 he headed the department responsible for weapons development and procurement, a role later scrutinised for corruption.
On January 24th 2026 the defence ministry announced that Zhang and another CMC member, General Liu Zhenli (aged 61, head of the joint staff department overseeing operations, intelligence and training), had been placed under investigation for "suspected serious discipline and law violations". Liu also has close ties to Zhang as another veteran of the war with Vietnam.
The People's Liberation Army Daily accused the two men of fuelling corruption, impairing combat readiness and undermining Xi's authority as commander-in-chief. Specifically, the editorial said they had "seriously trampled on and undermined the system of ultimate responsibility resting with the CMC chairman"—the system Xi introduced in 2014 to centralise authority over the armed forces. M. Taylor Fravel of MIT said the charge "implies that Zhang had challenged Xi's authority over the PLA and Xi's position as the commander-in-chief."
According to the Wall Street Journal, Zhang was also accused of leaking information about China's nuclear-weapons programme to America, and of helping to promote former defence minister Li Shangfu in exchange for large bribes. Li Shangfu had been dismissed and stripped of his rank after disappearing from public view in 2023.
Dennis Wilder of Georgetown University, a former CIA China analyst, called the purge "the most stunning development in Chinese politics since the early days of Xi's rise to power." He believed many recent military purges were driven by rivalry between a faction led by Zhang and another group who built their careers in eastern China. Zhang's faction had prevailed when General He Weidong was purged as the junior vice-chairman, leaving Zhang with unprecedented authority—but also making him a potential threat to Xi. "He is a tough, profane old goat and, while he had allied with Xi, he was never his subordinate," Wilder said.
The investigations mean Xi has now hollowed out his entire military leadership in a purge unmatched since an alleged coup attempt in 1971. Three of the six generals on the CMC formed in 2022 had already been sacked. With the latest investigations, the CMC has just two active members: Xi as chairman and General Zhang Shengmin, the PLA's disciplinary chief, who became the second-ranking vice-chairman in October 2025.
The first strong indication of trouble came when Zhang and Liu were absent from a television report about a recent Communist Party meeting; four days later the defence ministry announced the investigation.
If Zhang is formally dismissed, he would be the highest-ranking active-duty military officer ousted by Xi. If he also loses his Politburo seat, it would be the first time two Politburo members have been purged in the same five-year term since the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
Some Western assessments suggest the upheaval is affecting the PLA's ability to fight, at least in the short term. Chris Johnson, a former CIA China analyst, said Xi "had concluded it is worth risking temporary vulnerability and serious breakage to get the PLA to meet his operational objectives."
Fishing, with me, has always been an excuse to drink in the daytime.