FPI / February 13, 2026
Gen. Zhang Youxia was purged from his lofty position on China’s Central Military Commission (CMC) because he disagreed with Communist Party chief Xi Jinping on the buildup of the nation’s armed forces by 2027, the deadline Xi set for the military to be ready to use force to take Taiwan, the PLA Daily, the official propaganda outlet of China’s military, said in a front-page commentary.
The commentary is one of only two official PLA public remarks since the Jan. 31 ousters of Gen. Zhang and a second senior officer, Gen. Liu Zhenli.
“Our army is a people’s army under the absolute leadership of the Party, and the iron wall of the Party and the country,” the commentary said.
The generals were punished as “corrupt elements” in the Chinese Communist Party’s military wing, the outlet said.
The report said the purge “eliminates obstacles and stumbling blocks hindering the development of our cause, removes the impurities affecting combat effectiveness, and ignites the fighting spirit for overcoming challenges, injecting powerful momentum into the development of a strong military.”
China analyst K. Tristan Tang said the article published on Feb. 2 emphasized political control over the military and points to a lack of control as the cause of the recent purges.
The report suggests that Gen. Zhang “damaged both the political ecology of the PLA and ‘political awareness’ …. Zhang did violate the requirements of political control over the military and caused problems related to the full process of planning formulation and implementation,” Tang said.
Tang, with Secure Taiwan Associate Corp. and the Center for China Studies at National Taiwan University, said an analysis of PLA Daily coverage suggests Zhang disagreed with Xi over force-building plans.
“This situation presents a military problem in form, but it constitutes a serious political problem in substance,” he said, noting that the firing may have been the result of Xi believing that his authority was undermined by Zhang.
Most of the PLA Daily’s commentary repeated past propaganda slogans warning all military officers and troops to “unify their thoughts and actions” with Xi, the CCP Central Committee and the now two-member CMC, which Zhang was vice chairman of.
As the military approaches the 2027 centenary goal, it is beset with “many arduous and challenging risks and challenges,” the report stated. As a result, the PLA needs to strengthen its sense of mission, bolster political training and “improve our ability to win,” the report added.
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