After a power struggle within the senior ranks of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) military, the Central Military Commission of the CCP issued 26 new regulations targeting senior officials, proposing strict management of commanding officers and strengthening supervision and management of key leadership. Analysts believe that this signifies ongoing purges within the military, but having too many rules may only worsen the phenomenon of leaders opting for a “lying flat” approach, leaving the CCP’s military facing multiple difficulties.
On May 27, the CCP’s Xinhua News Agency reported that the Central Military Commission recently issued “Several Measures on Strengthening the Education, Management, and Supervision of Senior Military Officers.” The latest document claims to establish “ironclad rules.”
The new regulations, consisting of a summary across seven aspects with 26 content items, mention “strict management of commanding officers and above,” “strengthening the collective leadership of party committees,” and “insisting on the party’s control over the selection of cadres” among others.
Since July 2023, a large-scale cleanup operation has been carried out in the military, spearheaded by Xi Jinping. Until January 24 of this year, both Vice Chairman of the Military Commission Zhang Youxia and Commission Member Liu Zhenli fell from grace simultaneously, leaving only Chairman Xi Jinping and Vice Chairman Zhang Shengmin in the current Military Commission, with foreign media describing the CCP’s Military Commission as essentially destroyed.
Following the downfall of Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, signals of internal reorganization within the CCP’s military have been frequent. On January 25, the military issued the “Regulations on Party Organization Elections in the Military”; and in April, the first senior military officers’ training class was held, where Xi Jinping emphasized during the opening ceremony that senior military officers should “understand laws and regulations, be aware of disciplines, and know fear.”
Regarding the CCP’s recent release of the 26 new regulations, Senior Researcher at the Taiwan Institute for National Defense and Security Sheng Mingshi told The Epoch Times that the authorities emphasize various demands on senior generals, implicitly accusing individuals like Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli of wrongdoing. This also confirms that so-called anti-corruption efforts are essentially power struggles. In theory, the law should suffice, but the introduction of many regulations becomes a pretext for cracking down on others during political struggles.
Sheng Mingshi believes that in reality, the CCP’s military has a very complex organizational culture, and the official jargon listed in documents cannot truly control current leaders. Too many rules will only lead many to adopt a mindset of “lying flat” or “the less you do, the fewer mistakes you make, the more you do, the more mistakes you make.” “When the highest authority launches a political movement, everyone below echoes it. After a long time, the political movement cools down. Then, corruption resurfaces. It ultimately becomes a cycle of corruption.”
Director of the Institute for National Defense and Security’s Strategic and Resource Department in Taiwan, Su Ziyun, told The Epoch Times that according to the CCP’s political culture, formulating regulations indicates a significant loophole in itself. However, the content of these regulations often repeats the past. Xi Jinping has also mentioned similar content numerous times before. In fact, the internal problem within the CCP’s military is not corruption, but rather Xi Jinping’s increasing autocracy.
Senior political and military commentator Mark stated that the introduction of the latest regulations overseeing senior officers might mean that before the Fifth Plenum or the 21st Congress, another batch of officers may be targeted.
He said, “Xi Jinping wants officials to not only undergo an ideological shift but also to be ‘clean’ like in the Mao Zedong era; this is one of his goals to save the party. However, the resistance is significant.” “The officials who come up can only be loyal to him, they have no other choice. In the short term, this effect may be achieved, but this kind of cicada effect in the long run will generate another side effect. Everyone is unwilling to work hard. The phenomenon of ‘lying flat’ becomes more serious. Everyone is just making superficial efforts, engaging in political posturing.”
On May 27, Vice Chairman of the CCP Military Commission Zhang Shengmin presided over a meeting of senior military officials. Among the senior officers in attendance, only Zhang Shengmin was a general, with no other generals present. Several major generals were notably absent, including Minister of the National Defense Mobilization Department Zhang Like, Deputy Directors of the Political Work Department of the Military Commission Wang Chengnan and Zhang Yutang, and Deputy Director of the Joint Operations Command Center of the Military Commission Zheng Shoudong. It is currently unclear whether these four major generals have retired or fallen from grace.
Su Ziyun said that after Zhang Youxia’s arrest, almost all the senior generals in the CCP’s military have been arrested. With personnel adjustments, the crackdown will likely extend to major generals and below.
He said, “Next year, Xi Jinping is preparing for a fourth term, coinciding with the CCP so-called ‘hundred years of building the military,’ but Xi and the military have not yet emerged from multiple predicaments. On one hand, with so many senior officers being targeted, it indicates that Xi Jinping has a lack of insight in selecting and assessing individuals. Secondly, for Xi Jinping, although he seized the opportunity to remove obstacles to his individual dictatorship (Zhang Youxia), this also has some negative impact on himself. Thirdly, within the CCP’s military, due to the successive downfall of major generals and some developing senior generals, experiential gaps will appear, which may take at least five years to fill.”
(Sources: The Epoch Times, Xinhua News Agency)