A Major Purge Triggers Shockwaves in the Military; Xi Gets a New Nickname

Illustration: Intense infighting within Xi Jinping’s central leadership and the military. (Image by People News)

[People News] The arrest of Zhang Youxia, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the Chinese Communist Party, has stunned the outside world and is being called the largest high-level purge in the history of the PLA! Holding the dual status of “second-generation red” and “second-generation military,” Zhang Youxia is one of the very few PLA generals with real combat experience and was the PLA’s highest commander in actual combat operations. He has long been regarded as a core member of the “Xi family army” and was once Xi Jinping’s most trusted military ally. Against such a background, Zhang’s sudden downfall is especially shocking and has stirred intense turmoil and dissatisfaction within the military. If even someone like Zhang Youxia cannot be protected, who within the CCP system can truly feel safe? And in the future, who would be foolish enough to trust Xi Jinping?

Some netizens point out that 80% of military officers, 40% of political work cadres, and 75% of professional technical cadres in the PLA belong to Zhang’s faction or are his direct supporters. Therefore, Xi Jinping’s arrest of Zhang Youxia is equivalent to placing the vast majority of military cadres on the opposite side. If Xi cannot suppress this powerful wave of dissatisfaction within the military, will he face a large-scale anti-Xi, anti-CCP military mutiny?

Yuan Hongbing, a legal scholar living in Australia, once revealed that Xi Jinping’s sweeping purge in the military has swung the blade at nearly all full generals. As a result, Beijing’s official circles have given him a new nickname: “Slayer of Generals.”

Yuan Hongbing pointed out: “Since the CCP’s 20th National Congress, from Li Shangfu and the leadership of the Rocket Force, to the political disloyalty and major corruption cases across the entire military-industrial system, and then to the so-called major cases involving Miao Hua and He Weidong that ‘endangered the Party’s absolute leadership over the military and the CMC Chairman responsibility system’ through extreme political disloyalty—we can see that Xi Jinping’s great purge and rectification machine is running at high speed with apocalyptic madness. Thousands of CCP officials, including senior civilian officials within the military, have been thrown into this meat grinder. For a time, it can be said that the air is filled with dread and bloodshed. Senior officials of the CCP’s party-army are all in danger, each one fearful, unable to eat or sleep in peace, not knowing when disaster will strike. Under Xi Jinping’s great purge and rectification, most of the party-army’s full generals have been crushed and withered. According to rumors in Beijing official circles, besides nicknames like ‘Xi Steamed Bun’ and ‘Two-Hundred-Jin Sack,’ Xi Jinping has now gained a new nickname in Beijing officialdom: ‘Slayer of Generals.’ It means that Xi Jinping is an executioner slaughtering the CCP’s full generals.”

Xi Jinping has not only dealt with generals at all levels of the political departments but has not spared the Central Military Commission either. The CMC consists of seven members, and now only Xi Jinping and Zhang Shengmin remain. Zhang Shengmin has helped Xi push forward this round of sweeping rectification with full force, and thus is called “Butcher Zhang” within the military. So, does Xi trust “Butcher Zhang”? Although Zhang Shengmin has now been promoted to Vice Chairman of the CMC, Xi did not allow “Butcher Zhang” to enter the CCP Politburo. This shows that even “Butcher Zhang” cannot obtain 100% of Xi’s trust.

Yuan Hongbing said, “Almost all the former heads of the various CMC headquarters have been purged or suspended pending investigation. The full generals in the leading organs of the various theater commands, services, and the People’s Armed Police have also fallen like withered branches and leaves in the autumn wind.” “What’s even more bizarre is that nearly three years have passed since the Li Shangfu and Rocket Force cases erupted, and people only see Xi Jinping turning the blade inward, using massive rectification to butcher the group of full generals politically disloyal to him. He seems completely unconcerned about the major potential crisis caused by the incomplete leadership structure of the military’s command organs. From the CMC headquarters down to various theater commands and services, the party-army widely lacks full-time chiefs, having only acting officials or ‘high post, low rank’ arrangements—in other words, lieutenant generals and major generals acting in positions that should be led by full generals or lieutenant generals. Even Dong Jun, the defense minister promoted during this new round of rectification, has yet to enter the ranks of CMC members.”

Everyone can see that when the aircraft carriers Liaoning and Shandong joined the navy’s order of battle in previous years, the ceremonies were filled with stars on shoulders and groups of full generals. But recently, when the Fujian joined the party-army’s combat sequence, only Zhang Shengmin—the man wielding the knife in the military purge—and the military’s intelligence chief, just one full general, accompanied Xi Jinping at the ceremony. It truly looked like a lonely figure with no one by his side…

Yuan Hongbing cited the analysis and judgment of people of conscience within the CCP system, pointing out: “The fundamental reason for this situation lies in one of Xi Jinping’s inner demons—he has fallen into a pathological state of paranoid delusion.”

The intelligence system of the CCP’s party-army led by Zhang Shengmin has discovered that the full generals personally promoted by Xi share a common trait: they have completely lost confidence in the future of Xi Jinping’s system of absolute personal dictatorship. Therefore, some of them have used their power to frantically amass wealth and transfer it overseas, leaving themselves an escape route for exile abroad once Xi’s dictatorship collapses.

These constantly erupting major cases of political disloyalty are like repeated thunderbolts striking Xi Jinping’s head, making him increasingly convinced that he is surrounded by Prigozhins.

Zhang Youxia and many other full generals have fallen victim to Xi Jinping’s severe paranoia. △