General ejection: China’s military purge

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Economist Podcasts – “General ejection: China’s military purge”

Date: January 27, 2026
Host: Jason Palmer, Rosie Blore
Featured Guest: Jeremy Page, Chief China Correspondent

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Episode Overview

This episode examines the dramatic and unprecedented purge of senior leaders within China’s military. With President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive hollowing out the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) high command, two key generals in the Central Military Commission are under investigation. The episode unpacks potential motivations, possible consequences for China’s military readiness (especially given the looming 2027 “Taiwan deadline”), and the political reverberations for Xi Jinping’s leadership image.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Latest Military Purge: Scale and Significance

• Announcement: China’s Defense Ministry announced investigations into two top generals for “serious violations of discipline and law.” Details remain scarce and allegations are broad, including corruption and undermining Xi Jinping’s authority.
• Historical Context:
  • “The scope of Xi Jinping’s military purges is now unmatched since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976.” – Jeremy Page (03:01)
  • Some experts call it the most dramatic event in Chinese politics since Xi rose to power in 2012, and the most serious PLA crisis since Tiananmen Square, 1989.

2. Who Are the Purged Generals?

• General Zhang Youxia (03:58)
  • Age 75; considered a “princeling,” close personal ties to Xi, and a rare high-ranking officer with real combat experience (1979 Vietnam War).
  • Promoted several times by Xi, even beyond the normal retirement age.
  • “He was supposed to be kind of untouchable.” – Jeremy Page (04:46)
• General Liu Zhenli (05:11)
  • Age 61; head of the Joint Staff Department—overseeing operations, intelligence, training.
  • Also a Vietnam War veteran, believed to have close ties to Zhang Youxia.
• Current Situation:
  • Both generals are under investigation but not yet formally removed.
  • The Central Military Commission (CMC)—which oversees 2+ million personnel—now has just two active members: Xi himself and General Zhang Shengmin, the anti-corruption chief.

3. The Erosion of Military Leadership (06:44)

• With almost all top PLA officers purged, only Xi Jinping and his disciplinary chief remain at the CMC’s summit.
• This centralization leaves Xi isolated atop a “hollowed-out” leadership.

4. Why the Purge? (06:48–08:50)

• Three Theories:

  1. Frustration with Slow Progress:
     • Rampant corruption and insufficient combat readiness continue despite years-long reforms and the looming 2027 Taiwan invasion deadline.
     • “There is still rampant corruption... Zhang Youxia in particular was supposed to spearhead all the changes.” – Jeremy Page (07:32)
  2. Personal Corruption:
     • Many PLA senior officers benefited from a pre-Xi rank-buying culture. Xi’s team can “always dig up dirt,” even if current purges are personal score-settling.
  3. Power Struggle/Disloyalty:
     • Zhang Youxia became “too powerful” as rivals fell—and Xi, wary of emerging threats, acted to reassert total control.
     • The PLA Daily’s editorial hints these generals “trampled on the chairman responsibility system,” a code for challenging Xi’s authority.

• Wild Speculation:

  • Rumors even allege espionage (“passing secret information about China’s nuclear weapons program to the United States”), but experts are skeptical and no evidence is confirmed.

5. Consequences: What Happens Next? (09:44)

• Xi’s Dilemma:
  1. Who to Promote?
     • Next-in-line candidates are “tainted by association” or untested, creating a void of reliable and experienced advisers.
     • “There are no obvious choices. Plus these guys have less experience.” – Jeremy Page (09:52)
  2. Operational Readiness at Risk:
     • Military functions continue, but the top-level disruption undermines PLA’s war-readiness—critical ahead of the 2027 “Taiwan deadline.”
• Bad Optics for Xi:
  • The purge contradicts Xi’s narrative of stability and control, especially with the 2027 Party Congress (where he’ll likely seek another term) on the horizon.
  • “This does not look like the vision of stability that Xi has been really cultivating.” – Jason Palmer (10:54)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jeremy Page, on the scale of the purge:
  • “The scope of Xi Jinping’s military purges is now unmatched since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976.” (03:01)
• Jeremy Page, on Xi’s predicament and leadership risk:
  • “I think there is a real risk that the sort of younger, less experienced people that he promotes give him less reliable advice… which is going to be on Xi Jinping’s mind, particularly with that 2027 deadline fast approaching.” (09:52–10:54)
• Jason Palmer, on political optics:
  • “This does not look like the vision of stability that Xi has been really cultivating.” (10:54)
• Jeremy Page, on the broader effect:
  • “He will be very keen to try and re-establish a sense of order and stability throughout the Chinese system and especially in the military well before that meeting begins [in 2027].” (11:01)

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Timeline of Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|---------| | 02:04 | Intro to China’s military purge—announcement and context | | 03:01 | Historical significance and scale, Jeremy Page comments | | 03:58 | Profile: General Zhang Youxia & career highlights | | 05:11 | Profile: General Liu Zhenli; relationship between cases | | 05:45 | Status of process & CMC hollowing out | | 06:48 | Explanations for purge: corruption, reform lag, loyalty | | 08:53 | Speculation on espionage claims | | 09:44 | Immediate consequences: personnel, readiness, optics | | 10:54 | Xi’s struggle for stability; upcoming Party Congress |

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Summary & Takeaways

• Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption purge has left China’s military leadership decimated, with only two members atop the key Central Military Commission.
• The reasons are uncertain and may involve a mix of slow anti-corruption progress, legacy corruption, and fears of disloyalty.
• This destabilization poses immediate challenges for military readiness—crucial given Xi’s 2027 Taiwan ambition—and strikes at the core of Xi’s stable-leadership narrative.
• The episode provides rare insight into the closed world of China’s elite politics and the risks of political centralization atop one of the world’s largest militaries.

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Transcript

[Narrator/Host]

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[Strava User/Commentator]

Just saying.

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[Strava User/Commentator]

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[Jason Palmer]

The economist. Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist. I'm Jason Palmer.

[Rosie Blore]

And I'm Rosie Blore. Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

[Jason Palmer]

Russia's relentless strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure are taking their tol now more than ever. During a particularly harsh winter, we visit Kyiv, the capital, and ask frigid citizens how they cope without heat, electricity, or even water, sometimes for days on end.

[Rosie Blore]

And if you do any kind of physical activity at all, you've probably heard of Strava, an app that helps you track your progress and sends you nice messages, even when you achieve something pretty mediocre. Now the fitness app has its own goal, an ipo.

[Jason Palmer]

First up, though, They say it's lonely at the top. Perhaps most of all at the top of China's military leadership. This weekend, the Defense Ministry announced that two senior generals in the Central Military Commission were under investigation for suspected serious violations of discipline and law. The charge sheet was long but vague. An editorial in the army's mouthpiece suggested they had fueled corruption, impaired combat readiness, and undermined the authority of Xi Jinping, who, of course, is the commission's top dog. It's hard to know what's really going on here, but whatever the reasoning, it's bad news for a leader so fixated on projecting stability and one who has ever fewer experienced voices around him.

[Jeremy Page]

These latest investigations are hugely significant because the scope of Xi Jinping's military purges is now unmatched. Since the death of mao Zedong in 1976.

[Jason Palmer]

Jeremy Page is our chief China correspondent and is based in Taipei.

[Jeremy Page]

Xi Jinping has effectively hollowed out his entire military leadership just as we're approaching the deadline of next year that he has set for the Chinese military to be capable of launching an invasion of Taiwan. And one former CIA China analyst that I spoke to the other day described this as the most dramatic turn of events in Chinese politics since Xi rose to power in 2012. Others are saying it's the biggest crisis for the PLA since its involvement in the killing of protesters around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

[Jason Palmer]

Well, first, let's focus on the two people who are at the center of this latest investigation and where they fit into the picture.

[Jeremy Page]

Yeah, so the most interesting one is Zhang Liuxia. He's a general, 75 years old. He's what's known as a prince slaying in China, like Xi Jinping because his father was a prominent revolutionary who actually fought alongside Xi Jinping's father in the civil war. And the two men have known each other since childhood. He was promoted, promoted by Xi Jinping to the Central Military Commission, that's the top body that controls the armed forces in 2012, then promoted again to the Politburo. That's the Communist Party's top 20 or so leaders. That was in 2017. And then he was promoted again in 2022 to be the military's top uniformed officer, despite being above normal retirement age. So I think that's really testament to how much Xi Jinping trusted him. And he's also one of the few top military commanders that has actual combat experience because he fought with some distinction in a war with Vietnam in 1979. So all of that made it seem that he was kind of untouchable as these purges unfolded over the last couple of years. In fact, some people thought maybe he was one of the masterminds of these purges.

[Jason Palmer]

And the other person under investigation, the.

[Jeremy Page]

Other one, is General liu Zhenli. He's 61. He heads the Joint Staff Department, which oversees operations, intelligence, training, and other matters. It's sort of the nerve center of the military. Interestingly, he is also a veteran of that 1979 border war with Vietnam, and he is thought to have close personal ties to Jan Yong. So it does seem that whatever they're accused of, the two cases were related to each other.

[Jason Palmer]

And how does their dismissal actually work? Where are we in the process?

[Jeremy Page]

They haven't yet been removed officially from the Central Military Commission or dismissed from the army. But investigations of this type normally involve detention, and they are typically followed by formal dismissal from the military and often the party as well. And the other uniformed officers on the Central Military Commission, who've also been purged, have all been formally kicked out of their party and military posts. So one of the extraordinary things about this situation is that the cmc, the Central Military Commission, which controls a military of more than 2 million personnel, this commission only has two active members now. It has Xi Jinping as the chairman and another general, General Zhang Shengmin, who is basically the top disciplinary chief, the anti corruption guy, and he was just promoted to be a vice chairman in October of last year. So it's just these two guys sitting on top of this vast military apparatus.

[Jason Palmer]

So as you say, we don't have a whole lot of detail about what the actual allegations are.

[Jeremy Page]

That's right. I mean, the most detail we've got from official sources is in that editorial in the official military daily, which lists a whole bunch of. I think there are probably three most likely explanations. One is that Xi Jinping has become frustrated with the lack of progress in rooting out corruption and improving the combat readiness of the PLA ahead of that deadline of 2027 to be capable of launching an attack on Taiwan, if he decides to give that order. The military reforms that have been underway now for more than a decade haven't yet been completed. There is still rampant corruption in the military and other forms of indiscipline. And Zhang Youxia in particular was supposed to be the guy who was spearheading all the changes to deal with these problems. So it could be frustration at the lack of progress. It could be that these guys were actually involved in some kind of corruption or family members. I mean, a lot of these senior generals have skeletons in their closet because for many years before Xi Jinping took power, there was a sort of rank buying system that was absolutely rife throughout the Chinese military. So almost every single officer paid money to get promotions. So there's always some dirt that can be dug up on people. And then I think the third possible explanation is that it was more of a political issue that their loyalty to Xi Jinping had been called into question. Maybe even that Zhang Youxia in particular had become a little too powerful because so many of the other senior generals had been taken down, particularly the other vice chairman of the Central Military Commission. And so that left him by default as by far the most powerful uniformed officer. And perhaps Xi Jinping saw that as a threat. And there's a Hint of that in the PLA daily editorial which suggests that these guys had trampled on the chairman responsibility system, which is essentially the system which centralized military authority around Xi Jinping as the head of the Central Military Commission.

[Jason Palmer]

Or I suppose it could be a combination of those things.

[Jeremy Page]

Absolutely. There's all sorts of speculation, rumors flying around in Beijing at the moment. There's one report in the Wall street which suggested that Zhang Youxia had actually been accused of passing secret information about China's nuclear weapons program to the United States. Now no one else has reported that. There's been no independent confirmation. And some of the people who I've spoken to, long term experts on the PLA and the CIA and the US Military are a little skeptical about that. But I think that gives you an idea of the sort of impact that these announcements have had and just like the frenzy of speculation that is now going on inside China and overseas.

[Jason Palmer]

So what happens now that the top of the army is completely hollowed out? What happens next?

[Jeremy Page]

So I think Xi Jinping faces two main problems in the near term. One is who exactly does he promote to replace these guys? Because anybody in the sort of tier below these guys who've been dismissed from the Central Military Commission, they're pretty much tainted by association with those guys. So as Xi Jinping's trying to work out who to promote now, there are no obvious choices. Plus these guys have less experience. I think there is a real risk that the sort of younger, less experienced people that he promotes give him less reliable advice perhaps than these more experienced folks. And then that leads on to the second problem, I think, which is about operational readiness. I mean, this has got to be having an impact on the capabilities of the pla. I mean, I think their day to day functions continue. They can obviously still do big exercises like we saw around Taiwan in December. But in terms of their readiness to go to war, it has to have an impact when you've got a situation where basically every member of the military high command, bar one in uniform, has disappeared. So I think that is something that is going to be on Xi Jinping's mind, particularly with that 2027 deadline fast approaching.

[Jason Palmer]

I mean, in all cases it's bad optics, right? This does not look like the vision of stability that Xi has been really cultivating.

[Jeremy Page]

That's right. And you've also got to remember that we've got in 2027 a five yearly meeting of the Chinese Communist Party with Xi Jin is likely to seek another term in power. And the process of preparing for that has already started and he will be very keen to try and re establish a sense of order and stability throughout the Chinese system and especially in the military. Well before that meeting begins.

[Jason Palmer]

Jeremy, thanks very much for your time.

[Jeremy Page]

Thanks, Jason.

[Narrator/Host]

I have spent quite a lot of time in Ukraine over the last nearly four years since Russia invaded, but never have I seen the country in such a bleak state as it is now.

[Jason Palmer]

Sarah Larnyuk is deputy editor of the Intelligence.

[Narrator/Host]

The smell of diesel fumes hangs in the air absolutely everywhere you go. And while for the last three winters generators have become somewhat of a permanent fixture on the sidewalks of cities all across the country, in this fourth winter things have become much more dire. They are in use now almost constantly since the winter began. Many are falling into disrepair as a stopgap measure now becomes the primary source of electricity for businesses. With temperatures around minus 20 Celsius, Ukrainians face power cuts, heating disruptions and a lack of running water. Missile and drone attacks have continued at a pace that Ukrainian infrastructure just can't keep up with. Repair teams have also had to contend with this blistering cold, using fire to thaw pipes. What they're trying to do, they're trying.

[Jeremy Page]

To disconnect cities from the energy grids and the main targets for them are those big substations.

[Narrator/Host]

Pavlo Bilodid from dtech, a Kyiv based power company, says that maintaining power is most critical for even being able to keep water pumps switched on around Kyiv.

[Jeremy Page]

It's like five or six big substations and they almost destroyed all of them. Some of them were restored and then stored again.

[Narrator/Host]

This method is something that has already been executed effectively in the southern city of Odessa. And now the focus has turned to Kyiv and Kharkiv. A pattern has emerged here. First, the Russians send a missile that punches through the roof of the target and then they follow it up with drones that destroy everything inside Russia, now producing hundreds of those drones every single day. Over the course of the past year, Ukraine's drone interception rate has fallen from 98% to 80%, in part because of the lack of air defense missiles being supplied by the west, but also in part because of the sheer number of attacks. Some central businesses that are able to keep the lights on, like this bookstore, are crammed with people keeping warm, charging their phones and power banks and using the WI fi to work.

[Strava User/Commentator]

Two hours we have and clothes and.

[Narrator/Host]

One day no electronic, no water. Catalina and Liliana say that for the past three weeks it has been relentless describing having to use bottled water heated on the stove to keep themselves clean.

[Strava User/Commentator]

And to drink or wash some, some.

[Jason Palmer]

Hats.

[Rosie Blore]

And what we have.

[Narrator/Host]

Their experience is echoed by nearly every Ukrainian. Attacks on Monday and Friday. Last week left 80% of the country without utilities. Some people living on the worst hit east side of Kyiv reported no electricity and no water at all for 10 days. With this intermittent nature of utility supply, now water pipes are freezing and bursting, which is worsening the situation.

[Jeremy Page]

It's quite cold in my apartment. I think last time I checked it was around 10 degrees.

[Narrator/Host]

Demytro was recently released from military service on the front lines of this war. So while he has to rely on this bookstore's WI fi to work his IT job now, he does keep keep a stiff upper lip and says that he has seen much worse. But he does worry about those who are less able to cope.

[Jeremy Page]

But I guess the biggest problem is for older people, it's really hard for them to, you know, to stay without hitting. And also we have some problems with all the snow and ice and, you know, there are lots of broken bones.

[Narrator/Host]

I visit one older woman operating a small food stand in one of the city's underground arcades. She sits huddled in her coat in minus 15. The steam of her breath hangs in the air as she makes a few cash sales by flashlight. Others have resorted to heating bricks on gas camping stoves to try and radiate some kind of heat into their homes. Children are also among the greatest at risk here. Six year old Yiva says that she is always adding layers, even inside her home, one jumper or two, sometimes even with her winter coat on. Mayor Vitaly Klitschko says that Kyiv residents who are able to leave the city should do so either to other parts of Ukraine where attacks haven't been so focused, or abroad. His office estimates 600,000 have already left the capital this month. For those who cannot leave and who are facing the worst of circumstances, warming centers are being set up across the capital and world Central Kitchen is providing hot meals. In the way that they have since the beginning of the war. Ukrainians are trying to maintain that air of defiance. Blackout parties have become a regular occurrence. People suiting up and dancing in the frigid streets. Anything to boost morale. But the truth of the matter is stripping away people's basic needs has hit Ukrainians in a way that I have not seen in any of the time I've reported on this war.

[Strava User/Commentator]

My name is Diana and I'm 22 years old and I live in Kyiv.

[Narrator/Host]

You hear it from the people you talk to and some of the People are even brave enough to admit it publicly on social media.

[Strava User/Commentator]

And we still try to have this spirit and to believe that everything gonna be alright, but everything is not alright, you know, and you must.

[Narrator/Host]

And all of this has happened while the first round of peace talks took place between Russia, Ukraine and the US in Abu Dhabi. And a new round is set to start this weekend, but certainly in Kyiv. It does not feel like peace is any nearer. Every 19 seconds this year, someone on Strava hit a goal. So every 19 seconds this year, the.

[Rosie Blore]

Fitness app Strava wants to hit a goal of its own, an IPO. The app was launched in 2009 and turned users desire to track their athletic progress into a profit. The consumer wellness market has turned out to be an endurance game and it just keeps on pushing upwards.

[Strava User/Commentator]

Strava was valued last May at a whopping $2.2 billion. And roughly around that time its CEO said that it was on track to make $500 million in annual recurring revenue. So it's quite a healthy business.

[Rosie Blore]

Shira Aviona writes for the Economist.

[Strava User/Commentator]

And on the back of all that success, they're actually looking to go public this year. So they've engaged bankers at Goldman Sachs and they've apparently filed some of the first documents that they need to to enter public markets.

[Rosie Blore]

Shira, do you use Strava?

[Strava User/Commentator]

I have used Strava. People who know me will tell you I'm quite a reluctant runner, but I am trotted out for my own good every weekend. It's good. I mean, part of the funny thing is that you can track your own runs, but you can also see what other people are doing and you can even see professional cyclists and runners. So people that win world renowned marathons, like the winner of the Boston Marathon, tracks all of his training and so even though he doesn't give interviews, you can actually see what he was doing in the weeks that led up to his winning sprint.

[Rosie Blore]

So that's the key to its success, that you're sort of sharing your experience with others.

[Strava User/Commentator]

I think that's one of the keys. I think there are maybe three or four things. One is that you can track an unbelievable amount of data and you can do it on various devices. So there are some people that are big loyalists of Garmin smartwatches. Then you have your Apple tribe and it integrates with multiple different things. I think another thing is that social aspect. Exactly what you said, that you can organize running groups. If you've ever been in a UK park on a Saturday, you've seen park Runners. So that's becoming more and more popular, especially since the pandemic. And people seem to really like having a platform to coordinate group runs and also see what other people are doing. There's some voyeurism to it as well.

[Rosie Blore]

I sometimes think everyone I know is using Strava. Are there particular groups that are strong consumers.

[Strava User/Commentator]

So what's powered their growth is really young people. They do have quite a diverse set of users by age, but the growth is a lot among millennials and members of Gen Z. And what they've said is that those younger people like to use it for many different sports, say younger users that want to use it sometimes for running, but also to track a hike or even ski. So it works on multiple levels for them.

[Rosie Blore]

And what about its competitors? Who are they?

[Strava User/Commentator]

It has competitors from its friends in a funny way. So it has frenemies, which is that Apple has its own health tracking tools, and especially so does Garmin. So companies that make hardware in the kind of fitness space also have some interest in social fitness software. And then you also have fitness giants that we associate more with, actually sneakers and things like that. So Nike has an app for its Run Club, and Asics, the Japanese sneaker company, also operates a Strava competitor. And then you have smaller startups, actually two of which Strava bought last year, named Runa and the Breakaway, which kind of focus more on coaching, or some of them are more cycling focused, but they had various features that were attractive to Strava's bosses.

[Rosie Blore]

So why is Strava going for an IPO now and what will it do next?

[Strava User/Commentator]

So one reason Strava is seeking to enter public markets is that they want access to more capital. If they want to buy bigger and better targets, that's something that entering public markets might help them do. So I think Strava is part of a larger trend in really huge rises in spending on things like wellness, but also beauty, health, sleep trackers, all that kind of stuff. And I think Strava is a great test case, as we see at ipo to see can spending on these kind of things continue to increase more and more? And is the wellness boom durable?

[Rosie Blore]

Shira, thank you so much.

[Strava User/Commentator]

Thanks so much.

[Jason Palmer]

That's all for this episode of the Intelligence. We'll see you back here tomorrow.

[Narrator/Host]

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