The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the Chinese Communist Party held a meeting on February 2, announcing the termination of the qualifications of multiple national people’s congress deputies, including those from the military-industrial system. However, what has caught the attention of the public is that the meeting did not address the two senior military figures, Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, who had already been officially announced to have fallen from grace. According to public information, both of them still retain their positions as national people’s congress deputies and are members of the delegations from the People’s Liberation Army and the People’s Armed Police. This handling of the situation is significantly different from what was widely expected.
The meeting also did not touch upon the qualifications of national people’s congress deputies from the military system, and did not address the cases of Sun Shaocheng and Wang Xiangxi, who had previously been officially reported to have fallen from power, yet their qualifications as national people’s congress deputies are still retained. The long-anticipated question of whether the qualifications of Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli as national people’s congress deputies would be revoked did not see any progress in this meeting.
The meeting was chaired by the Chairman of the National People’s Congress, Zhao Leji. According to the announcement No. 15 of the 14th Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress released after the meeting, the qualifications of 3 individuals, Zhou Xinmin, Luo Qi, and Liu Cangli, were terminated. The total number of national people’s congress deputies was reduced from the original 2900 to 2897 as a result.
Public records show that the 3 individuals whose qualifications as national people’s congress deputies were terminated are Zhou Xinmin, Luo Qi, and Liu Cangli. Zhou Xinmin previously served as the Chairman and Party Secretary of the China Aviation Industry Corporation Limited; Luo Qi is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and was the Chief Engineer of the China Nuclear Industry Group; Liu Cangli is also an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and served as the Director of the China Academy of Engineering Physics.
These three individuals have long been involved in the fields of aviation, nuclear energy, and have close ties to the military-industrial complex.
An insider familiar with the political situation in the Chinese Communist Party, using the pseudonym Jin Zhe, told Dajiyuan that, to his knowledge, the military had submitted proposals to the National People’s Congress regarding the revocation of the national people’s congress deputy qualifications of Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli and requested approval from the congress. If these proposals were not submitted, the necessity of this meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress would be called into question, as the customary practice is for the Standing Committee to convene a routine session at the end of February in preparation for the national congresses.
Jin Zhe stated that the related proposals did not receive approval at this Standing Committee meeting. If these circumstances are true, it signifies that the National People’s Congress system failed to synchronize with Xi Jinping’s political agenda on critical issues, indicating a possible crack in the relationship between Zhao Leji and Xi Jinping.
Huang Tian, a constitutional scholar from mainland China, expressed in an interview with Dajiyuan that from a political logic perspective, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress has significant discretion in handling deputy qualification issues, selectively terminating individual deputy qualifications does not constitute a procedural violation. However, when observing the actual power operation methods of the Chinese Communist Party, this practice of “dealing only with marginal figures and not touching on core figures for the time being” is unusual.
He also pointed out that in the past anti-corruption and military crackdown rhythm of the Chinese Communist Party, once senior military leaders were clearly dealt with, adjustments in national people’s congress deputy qualifications were usually procedural steps that followed, rather than being postponed or deliberately avoided for an extended period.
In comparison to previous cases of senior military figures such as Guo Boxiong, Xu Caihou, Fang Fenghui, etc., the qualifications of Chinese Communist Party national people’s congress deputies were usually addressed within a few months after the political determination, and once entering the congress meeting process, it was rare for the situation of “convening a meeting yet not handling core figures” to occur. Shortly after Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli were investigated, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress convened a meeting, but did not deal with their deputy qualifications, a situation that is uncommon in existing conventions.
Huang Tian raised doubts about this. He stated that Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli were officially announced to be under investigation on January 24, and the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress subsequently held a meeting on February 2, yet ultimately did not terminate their national people’s congress deputy qualifications. The key issue lies not in the short time interval after the investigation was made public but in the fact that the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress had already convened yet did not address the relevant core figures.
He believed that in similar past cases, if the investigation had just initiated, related issues would typically not enter the national people’s congress meeting agenda; once on the agenda, the handling results would often be swiftly determined. Previously, there had been no precedent for “convening a meeting but deliberately avoiding addressing the most crucial figures.”
Regarding the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the Chinese Communist Party to “avoid taking action” against Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, another scholar, Mr. He, analyzed that this handling by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress itself sent a strong signal to the outside world. “This indicates that within the Chinese Communist Party, there is still no consensus on some significant power issues, especially in matters related to the military commission’s power and the operation of the administrative system, progress is not smooth due to dissatisfaction with Xi.
Mr. He pointed out that the failure of the relevant issues to reach a conclusion at the national people’s congress level indicates differing judgments among the top echelons of the Chinese Communist Party on key issues, and relevant coordination has not been completed.
Mr. He stated that the failure of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress to reach a resolution on core issues displays the emerging discrepancies within the military power issue within the Chinese Communist Party. This is not an abrupt hardening of policy by the national congress but rather a reflection of the slow progress in Xi Jinping’s related power agenda at key points. The lack of definitive outcomes in the process also signifies hurdles faced by the top decision-making level in actual operations.
Since the events related to Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli occurred on January 24, the public operation of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party has been in an abnormal state. There have been no official announcements of the commission convening a meeting, collective activities, or updates on senior figures from the People’s Liberation Army on the official military websites. On February 6, China Military Online reposted an article called “Always Keeping in Mind the Well-being of Officers and Soldiers – Chairman Xi Jinping’s Deep Concern” from People’s Daily, which depicted scenes of Xi Jinping inspecting troops and caring for grassroots officers and soldiers in a retrospective tone, but did not touch upon any of the current operations or decision-making aspects of the military commission.
Analysts noted that with the prolonged absence of public activity information at the level of the Central Military Commission, the concentration of such emotionally narrated propaganda articles is more likely to draw attention to the existing differences between the actual operation of the military power system and the narrative presented to the public.
As of now, there has been no clear institutional resolution regarding the issues surrounding Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, the actual operating status of the Central Military Commission and its subsequent trajectory still requires further observation.