U.S.–China Security and Taiwan

China’s Defense Ministry has confirmed that Gen. Zhang Youxia, Xi Jinping’s top military deputy and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, is under investigation for alleged misconduct, extending a sweeping purge that has already reshaped the People’s Liberation Army. According to official disclosures tallied by the Wall Street Journal, since mid‑2023 at least 60 senior officers and state defense‑industry executives have been removed, replaced or placed under investigation, including leaders in China’s army, navy, air force, rocket force, paramilitary police and key theater commands, among them the one focused on Taiwan. The shake‑up is so extensive that just over one in every five officers whom Xi himself promoted to three‑star rank has now been dismissed or accused of serious misconduct, raising questions about corruption, factionalism and Xi’s judgment in building a loyal, modern force meant to rival the U.S. military. U.S. strategists are watching closely because turmoil in the PLA’s high command can cut both ways: it may slow China’s modernization and complicate any large‑scale operation, but it can also make decision‑making more opaque and brittle in a crisis with the United States over Taiwan or in the South China Sea. Coming as Washington rewrites its own National Defense Strategy around deterring China, the breadth of the purge is a concrete reminder that Xi’s internal power consolidation is now a major variable in U.S. war‑planning and risk calculations.