China Removes Zhang Youxia From State CMC Post, Allegations Remain Sealed

China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee removed Zhang Youxia as vice chairman of the state Central Military Commission on August 28. Liu Zhenli was removed as a commission member, and both men lost their seats in the National People’s Congress the same day. They had been placed under investigation in January for suspected serious violations of discipline and law; no specific conduct or trial arrangements have been released.

The decision specifically names the Central Military Commission of the People’s Republic of China. The Chinese Communist Party has a parallel CMC, normally composed of the same officials. As of August 31, authorities had not separately announced a decision on Zhang’s Party CMC position.

Zhang had been China’s most senior uniformed officer below Xi Jinping and had combat experience from the Sino-Vietnamese border conflicts. He was widely regarded as a longtime military ally of Xi and remained on the commission in 2022 despite being past the customary retirement age.

When the Defense Ministry announced the investigation on January 24, it provided no conduct, sums of money or evidence. Military discipline investigators can impose Party sanctions before suspected crimes are transferred to military prosecutors and courts. Chinese official-corruption cases normally pass through Party discipline and supervision procedures before reaching an open courtroom, leaving allegations and defenses difficult to verify before indictment.

China’s anti-corruption agencies opened 1.012 million cases in 2025, disciplined 983,000 people and placed 47,000 in detention, according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. The total included 181 centrally managed officials. Authorities said they returned 77.63 billion yuan in misappropriated or improperly collected property to the public. Another 538,000 cases were opened in the first half of 2026, about 70 percent more than in the same period of 2023.

Disciplinary notices in cases including Zhou’s and Guo’s placed bribery and improper benefits alongside political allegations such as disloyalty and damage to the political environment. The watchdogs answer to the CCP, and courts usually receive the criminal portion only after the discipline inquiry. Beijing says centralized investigations break through local and departmental protection networks. Critics question whether political priorities affect case selection, disclosure of evidence and defense rights.

Guo received a life sentence in 2016. A decade later, former defense ministers Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu received suspended death sentences for bribery and related crimes. Several senior officers purged in recent years had been promoted under Xi. The cases have removed powerful individuals, but repeated scandals in procurement and military appointments show that severe punishment has not prevented corruption from returning. China requires internal asset reporting by officials but has no public disclosure system or anti-corruption body independent of the Party.

Zhang has not appeared in public since the investigation was announced in January. Eight months later, his state CMC post has been removed, but authorities have not disclosed the conduct at issue or said when the investigation will conclude.

Sources: the NPC Standing Committee’s August 28 removal decision; the Defense Ministry’s January announcement concerning Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli; the CCDI’s 2025 work report and first-half 2026 statistics; military-court judgments in the Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu cases; and public Xinhua case records. Institutional assessments are attributed to Chinese official accounts and published legal research. Information reviewed through August 31, 2026.