Xi Jinping's Strategic Military Purges: Reshaping China's Armed Forces Through Loyalty and Control

On October 17, 2025, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) expelled nine senior military leaders from party membership, including Central Military Commission (CMC) members, former defense ministers, and theater commanders. While these expulsions weren't unexpected, as most had been recently detained, the unprecedented scale of the purge—exceeding even Mao Zedong's era—shocked China observers. This raises critical questions: Does this indicate a rival faction attempting to undermine Xi Jinping? Is there a growing divide between military and civilian leadership? Could this purge weaken China's military readiness, especially regarding Taiwan invasion plans?

Xi Jinping has established a leadership structure where virtually all significant figures are his loyalists. Having witnessed how his predecessor Hu Jintao was constrained by Jiang Zemin's appointees, Xi moved decisively early in his tenure to remove Jiang's allies from military and security positions.

Since taking power in 2012, Xi has prosecuted nearly five million officials under his anti-corruption campaign. What began as an effort to enforce party discipline evolved into his most effective tool for neutralizing rivals throughout the Party and armed forces. The CCP also formalized the "Chairman Responsibility System," officially establishing Xi as the undisputed "core" leader.

Consequently, nearly every influential political and military figure in China today has either served directly under Xi or owes their career advancement to his patronage. The upper levels of Chinese politics and military have been thoroughly reshaped according to Xi's preferences, leaving few, if any, non-loyalists in positions of power. This makes claims that recent purges reflect factional attempts to weaken his authority seem implausible.

Xi faces two persistent challenges: maintaining regime stability and addressing the military's entrenched secrecy. Regime stability requires clear succession planning, yet this process has deteriorated as Xi rotates loyalists, pitting them against each other and removing those deemed weak or insufficiently loyal. His purges extend beyond individuals to their networks and successors, creating pervasive uncertainty while serving dual purposes: keeping subordinates constantly vigilant and ensuring unfiltered information reaches the top, reinforcing his control over decision-making.

Furthermore, Xi has downgraded the vice presidency from a leadership training position to a ceremonial role for retiring officials and has prevented civilian leaders from joining the CMC. His succession planning faces a fundamental contradiction: while seeking a successor from among his loyalists, he remains unwilling to empower anyone who might challenge his authority. In this regard, Xi resembles Mao and Deng, who both cycled through multiple potential heirs before making final selections.

The military's entrenched secrecy has fostered widespread corruption. As China's defense budget has grown to an estimated $249 billion, opacity within the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has enabled extensive graft in procurement, infrastructure, and other areas, including a thriving pay-for-promotion culture. As a civilian leader without military experience, Xi is keenly aware of his informational disadvantage and the oversight challenges this creates.

To address these issues, Xi has implemented a two-pronged approach: repeatedly purging senior military officers and their networks while aggressively modernizing the PLA through investments in advanced technologies and next-generation weapons systems. This creates a paradox: while the PLA's arsenal undergoes comprehensive technological transformation, its leadership remains in constant flux, ensuring that commanders feel insecure and Xi maintains absolute authority.

These recent purges are neither unprecedented nor likely to be the last. While opinions vary, frequent and widespread purges inevitably undermine the PLA's combat effectiveness. Commanders, fearing missteps, may become risk-averse and reluctant to take initiative, while deteriorating civil-military trust further weakens operational cohesion. Despite the PLA's increasingly sophisticated arsenal, its human element remains its most vulnerable component. Nevertheless, as the supreme leader of this massive organization, Xi possesses the justification, authority, and resources to continue purges until his loyalty standards are fully satisfied.

[Harsh V. Pant is Vice President, Observer Research Foundation, and Atul Kumar is a Fellow in Strategic Studies Programme at ORF.]

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author