By Li Jingyao, Vision Times
Remarks made during a recent meeting of China’s top legislative body have drawn heightened scrutiny from analysts, who say they may foreshadow another wave of purges targeting senior military figures aligned with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader and President Xi Jinping.
On Dec. 15, the 56th Chairpersons’ Meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) convened at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The meeting confirmed that the 19th session of the 14th NPC Standing Committee will be held from Dec. 22-27.
While the publicly released agenda covered routine items, including draft legislation, budget reviews, and audit reports, one lesser-noticed line has attracted particular attention: A proposal submitted by the Central Military Commission (CMC) seeking approval for changes to the membership of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Election Committee.
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Analysts say the move could signal the imminent official removal of additional senior military officials, with the final makeup of the committee expected to offer rare insight into who now wields real power within the PLA.
A reshuffling of the PLA election committee
According to Xinhua, the meeting was chaired by NPC Standing Committee Chairman Zhao Leji. Agenda items included deliberations on draft laws, an audit of the 2024 central budget, and written reports on Zhao’s recent visits to New Zealand and Australia.
Near the end of the announcement, however, the agenda also referenced the review of a report on the qualifications of certain NPC deputies, deliberation of a CMC proposal to approve additional members of the PLA Election Committee, and consideration of related appointments and removals.
Political commentator Zhou Xiaohui noted that these brief references carry outsized significance, particularly regarding potential changes to the PLA Election Committee and the removal of military delegates from the NPC.
According to the NPC’s official website, the PLA Election Committee must be approved by the NPC Standing Committee. The committee oversees the vetting of military NPC deputies, sets election timelines, publishes candidate lists, supervises voting, and handles by-elections, removals, and resignations.
Under normal practice, the committee is appointed for a five-year term, with new membership announced at the end of the year in which a new Politburo Standing Committee and Politburo are formed.
Current members reportedly sidelined
Following the CCP’s 20th Party Congress in 2022, the NPC Standing Committee released the then-current PLA Election Committee list in December of that year. The committee consisted of 11 members: Chairman Zhang Youxia; Vice Chairman He Weidong; and members Li Shangfu, Liu Zhenli, Miao Hua, Zhang Shengmin, Zhong Shaojun, Wang Renhua, He Hongjun, Wang Chengnan, and Sun Bin.
In September 2024, the NPC Standing Committee announced the appointment of Fang Yongxiang as a committee member. Fang had been promoted to director of the CMC General Office and was widely viewed as replacing Zhong Shaojun.
Zhou Xiaohui pointed out that under normal circumstances, a new committee would not be announced until 2027. The decision to make changes well ahead of schedule, he said, strongly suggests that multiple existing members have already encountered serious political or disciplinary problems.
According to Zhou, among the 12 individuals who have served on the committee, those whose downfalls have been officially announced include former CMC Vice Chairman He Weidong, former Defense Minister Li Shangfu, former CMC Political Work Department Director Miao Hua, former Executive Deputy Director He Hongjun, and former CMC Audit Office Deputy Auditor Sun Bin.
Three others — Zhong Shaojun, Wang Renhua, and Fang Yongxiang — are widely believed by observers to have fallen into political trouble, though no official announcements have been made.
Disappearances and quiet removals
Zhong Shaojun stepped down as director of the CMC General Office in March last year and was reassigned as political commissar of the National Defense University. In August 2025, independent commentator Cai Shenkun reported that Zhong had also been removed from that post.
Following the Fourth Plenum, the Chinese embassy in North Korea published a post on October 25 describing a reception marking the 75th anniversary of the PLA’s entry into the Korean War. The post stated that a PLA delegation led by Xia Zhihe, political commissar of the National Defense University, attended the event, indicating that Xia had replaced Zhong, who appears to have been quietly removed.
As for Wang Renhua, secretary of the CMC Political and Legal Affairs Commission, reports have circulated that he has been sidelined, with his profile quietly removed from the official website of the CCP Political and Legal Affairs Commission.
CMC General Office Director Fang Yongxiang has also been absent from public view for months. He did not appear when Xi Jinping met senior officers stationed in Lhasa on August 20, nor did he secure a seat as a Central Committee member at the Fourth Plenum. Observers believe Fang may likewise have fallen from favor.
Who controls the military now?
At present, only four members of the PLA Election Committee are confirmed to remain in position: CMC Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia; Zhang Shengmin; CMC member and Chief of the Joint Staff Department Liu Zhenli; and Wang Chengnan, deputy director of the CMC Political Work Department.
Zhou Xiaohui said at least seven members are likely to be replaced — most of whom are regarded as part of Xi Jinping’s inner military circle. He argued that the backgrounds of the incoming appointees will be critical in determining whether Xi’s faction continues to dominate the armed forces. “The list released at the end of December will show who really holds military power,” Zhou wrote.
Hong Kong media have reported that since the 20th Party Congress, at least 28 PLA generals have been removed or have disappeared, with potentially hundreds of lieutenant generals and major generals implicated in the ongoing anti-corruption campaign. Many of those affected are widely considered close allies of Xi.
U.S.-based political commentator Chen Pokong said Xi’s military network has been “almost completely dismantled,” though not all cases have been officially disclosed. He noted that three of the seven CMC members have effectively vanished, leaving the body understaffed.
Chen argued that upcoming changes to the PLA Election Committee will reveal who advances and who disappears next. He added that further appointments to the CMC could follow at the Fifth Plenum, as three CMC seats remain vacant.
According to Chen, the December meeting carries exceptional political significance. Zhao Leji, he said, may have inadvertently revealed a major internal secret — that the purge of Xi Jinping’s military allies is still ongoing.
Editorial note: This article is based on official Chinese state media reports, publicly available government information, and analysis by independent Chinese-language commentators. Assessments regarding internal power struggles, factional alignment, and the status of specific military officials are attributed to analysts and media reports and have not been officially confirmed by Chinese authorities.
