China’s top military official under probe for disciplinary violations in major purge in People's Liberation Army

Beijing: Two senior Chinese military officials, including the highest-ranking PLA official Gen Zhang Youxia, were placed under investigation for serious violations of the ruling Communist Party's discipline and laws, the Defence Ministry here said on Saturday.

Gen Zhang is the first-ranking Vice Chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), the overall high command of the Chinese military headed by President Xi Jinping.

Zhang’s position on the CMC makes him the highest-ranking uniformed officer in the Chinese military.

The other senior official under investigation is General Liu Zhenli, a CMC member who serves as its chief of staff of the Joint Staff Department.

"After deliberation by the CPC Central Committee, it was decided to initiate an investigation into Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli,” the Ministry of Defence said in a brief press release.

The probe against them, especially Zhang, the highest-ranking military official, has sent shockwaves through the Chinese military establishment.

Zhang is also a member of the 24-man Politburo, the Communist Party of China's (CPC) centre of power.

Dozens of senior People's Liberation Army (PLA) officers have been sacked or punished under an intensified anti-corruption campaign carried out by Xi since he took power in 2012.

Xi, 72, currently in his unprecedented third five-year term as President, initiated the anti-graft campaign against ‘tigers and flies” -- big and small officials when he took over power in 2012.

This included two former defence ministers and dozens of senior PLA officers.

Earlier, He Weidong, second-ranked military official of the CMC, was expelled from the party and the armed forces in October last year.

Last month, the Chinese parliament expelled Wang Renhua, head of the CMC's Political and Legal Affairs Committee; Zhang Hongbing, political commissar of the People’s Armed Police (PAP); and Wang Peng, director of the CMC’s training department.

Xi is the only Chinese leader after the ruling Communist Party founder Mao Zedong to remain in power for more than two terms.

State media reports previously said over a million officials have been punished under the anti-graft campaign, including dozens of high-level military officials.

Critics say that the intensity of the campaign and its continuation also helped Xi consolidate his power in the party and military.

In an internal speech in October last year, Xi emphasised that corruption was “the greatest threat” facing the party and said the cases were another reminder that the fight remained “grim and complex”.