On March 7, 2026, Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping attended the “Fourth Plenary Session of the Fourteenth National People’s Congress” as part of the military delegation, where only 6 generals were present. 13 general delegates and 5 general CPPCC (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference) members were notably absent.
According to the official Chinese state media Xinhua News Agency, on the afternoon of March 7, 2026, Xi Jinping, the CCP leader and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, attended the full meeting of the military delegation at the Fourth Plenary Session of the Fourteenth National People’s Congress and delivered a speech. General Zhang Shengmin, the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, also participated in the meeting.
Footage from CCTV, the official Chinese Central Television, showed only six generals present at the military delegation’s full meeting. Aside from Zhang Shengmin, the other five generals in attendance were Minister of National Defense Dong Jun, Commander of the Eastern Theater Command Yang Zhibin, Commander of the Central Theater Command Han Shengyan, former Political Commissar of the Northern Theater Command Fan Xiaojun, and former Commander of the Central Theater Command Yi Xiaoguang.
Among them, Zhang Shengmin, Dong Jun, Yang Zhibin, Han Shengyan, and Fan Xiaojun serve as deputies to the National People’s Congress, while Yi Xiaoguang is a CPPCC member.
Traditionally, members of the military, Military Commission officials, leaders of various military branches, and certain officials from the State Council attend the full meetings of the military and armed police delegations.
In the past years, the military delegation full meetings held on March 7, 2025, saw more than 20 generals in attendance, while the meeting on March 7, 2024, had nearly 30 generals present or in attendance.
According to the official website of the National People’s Congress, the current military delegation to the NPC consists of 243 members, including those who have been officially ousted, such as Zhang Yuxia and Liu Zhenli, among others.
Out of the 243 military NPC delegates, there are 18 generals, including Zhang Shengmin, Dong Jun, Han Shengyan, Yang Zhibin, Fan Xiaojun, Wang Jianwu, Ju Qiansheng, An Zhaoqing, Xu Xueqiang, Li Fengbiao, Xiao Tianliang, He Ping, Zheng Weiping, Yuan Yubai, Xu Zhongbo, Ling Huanxin, Guo Pujiao, and Chang Dingqiu.
Aside from the aforementioned five generals, a total of 13 generals were conspicuously absent from both the establishment meeting of the military delegation on March 3, 2026, and the full meeting on March 7, 2026.
At the full meeting of the military delegation on March 7, 2026, only General Yi Xiaoguang, a CPPCC member of the military, was present among the generals.
During the Fifteenth Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Fourteenth National Committee of the CPPCC held on March 1-2, 2026, only General Yi Xiaoguang was in attendance. Generals Han Weiguo, Liu Lei, and Gao Jin had their qualifications as CPPCC members and the positions of Standing Committee members revoked during this meeting.
During the opening session of the National Committee of the CPPCC held on March 4, 2026, only General Yi Xiaoguang was present.
Out of the fifteen members of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC, 6 of whom were generals from the military. Apart from Yi Xiaoguang and those recently dismissed – Han Weiguo, Liu Lei, and Gao Jin, the remaining five military CPPCC Standing Committee generals, including former Commander of the PLA Rocket Force Wang Ning, former Commander of the Western Theater Command Zhao Zongqi, former Political Commissar of the Western Theater Command Wu Shezhou, former Political Commissar of the Central Theater Command Zhu Shengling, and former Political Commissar of the National Defense University Zheng He, had been absent from the meetings held on March 1-2, 2026, March 4, 2026, and March 7, 2026.
Amid the escalating crackdown within the Chinese military, the unusually high number of generals absent from the meetings raises speculations about their statuses and whether they have encountered problems.
During the military delegation’s full meeting on March 7, 2026, the Chinese Communist Party leader emphasized that the military, being armed forces, should not harbor individuals with “dual allegiances,” and he called for advancing anti-corruption efforts within the military.
On March 5, 2026, during the military delegation’s subgroup deliberations, General Zhang Shengmin stressed the importance of deepening political rectification and anti-corruption measures.
Zhang Shengmin, the Secretary of the Military Commission for Discipline Inspection, was promoted to the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission during the Fourth Plenum of the Twentieth Central Committee. The day after the conclusion of the Fifth Plenum of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, on January 16, 2026, an expanded meeting was held by the CCP’s military disciplinary committee. Zhang Shengmin stated during the meeting that in 2026, there should be higher standards and practical measures to advance anti-corruption efforts within the military, maintaining a firm stance on punishing corruption. One week later, on January 24, Vice Chairman of the CMC Zhang Yuxia and CMC member Liu Zhenli were officially ousted.
Following the Twentieth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, various corruption cases within the Rocket Force and the CMC Equipment Development Department were exposed starting from July 2023. The Minister of National Defense, Li Shangfu, and several Rocket Force commanders were investigated by the end of 2024, and CMC member Miao Hua faced issues by 2025. Vice Chairman of the CMC, He Weidong, encountered problems in 2025. Vice Chairman Zhang Yuxia and CMC member Liu Zhenli were investigated in January 2026. Out of the members of the Twentieth CMC, five have been investigated, leaving only Xi Jinping and Zhang Shengmin untouched.
Furthermore, in the past three years, 36 high-ranking generals who once held the position of the Fourteenth National People’s Congress delegate were publicly removed, including 16 generals. These dismissed generals were mostly appointed and promoted by Xi Jinping himself; notably, figures like He Weidong and Miao Hua, who originated from the 31st Group Army, were closely associated with Xi’s military inner circle.