U.S.–China Security

China’s Defense Ministry says Gen. Zhang Youxia, the senior vice chair of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), is under investigation for “serious violations of discipline and law,” making the country’s top uniformed officer the latest target in a sweeping military purge under Xi Jinping. Another CMC member, Joint Staff Department chief Liu Zhenli, has also been placed under party investigation, following last year’s expulsion of fellow vice chair He Weidong and two former defense ministers on corruption charges. Analysts see the campaign as both an effort to clean up graft and a loyalty drive that tightens Xi’s personal grip on the People’s Liberation Army command that would oversee any conflict with the United States or its allies. The shake‑up comes one day after the Trump administration released a new National Defense Strategy that explicitly defines China as a military power to be deterred from dominating the U.S. or its partners, even as it says a "decent peace" is possible without regime change. For U.S. defense planners and markets, the investigation into Zhang — a 75‑year‑old career ground‑forces general long seen as close to Xi — raises fresh questions about stability, morale and succession inside the PLA at a time of rising U.S.–China tensions over Taiwan, the South China Sea and global influence.