FPI / October 23, 2025
Geostrategy-Direct
Nine senior military leaders have been purged by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) amid rumors about its direction, leadership and control of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
The firings coincided with the Fourth Plenum of the CCP’s 20th Central Committee in which the party would address a five-year plan for social, political, and economic goals. The event began on Oct. 20 and was slated to go on for several days.
Those purged impacted the uppermost ranks of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), including key officers regarded as loyalists of CCP leader Xi Jinping.
China analyst and Geostrategy-Direct.com contributing editor Richard Fisher noted: “While the PLA has at times moved to change the Party leadership — its support for Deng over the Gang of Four — and it reinforced support for Jiang after Tiananmen, those were extreme situations that do not appear to be present today.
“That said, the only force that is able to crash the CCP is the PLA.”
One of the PLA’s most senior generals, He Weidong, was as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, the party organ that controls the military.
“Firings for corruption are not unusual in China, but many of those named in the latest dismissals from the PLA are proteges of Xi, raising speculation about a power struggle within the party,” security correspondent Bill Gertz noted in an Oct. 17 analysis for The Washington Times.
The purge also could be part of Xi’s announced goal of transforming the PLA into a world-class military and his orders to be ready for military action against Taiwan by 2027, Gertz cited analysts as saying.
“This round of purges stands out because almost all of the nine purged are handpicked by Xi and considered to be the most loyal to him,” said Miles Yu, now director of the China Center at the Hudson Institute and a former Geostrategy-Direct.com contributing editor. “This indicates Xi’s high degree of insecurity and paranoia, the hallmark of an absolute dictator.”
Under Xi, who is also Central Military Commission chairman, communist ideology has been revived throughout China. Party and PLA members have been required to study Beijing’s brand of communism, known as Marxism-Leninism with Chinese characteristics, and “Xi Jinping thought,” the Chinese leader’s variation on it.
Gordon Chang, a China expert, said the firings indicate severe internal fighting within the Chinese communist leadership.
“It is unlikely, at a time Xi Jinping is fighting for survival, that he removed his most senior supporter in the Chinese military,” Chang said on X, referring to Gen. He. “It is far more probable that Xi has lost control of the People’s Liberation Army.”
In an Oct. 19 analysis for the Gatestone Institute, Chang noted that “Xi may be purging his own people, but that is not the most likely explanation.”
Full Report . . . . Current Edition . . . . Subscription Information
Free Press International
