{"id":76093,"date":"2026-01-27T04:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T19:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/jan\/26\/china-top-general-zhang-youxia-power-struggle-corruption"},"modified":"2026-01-27T04:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T19:09:11","slug":"fate-of-chinas-top-general-more-likely-to-do-with-power-struggle-than-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/?p=76093","title":{"rendered":"Fate of China\u2019s top general more likely to do with power struggle than corruption"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Experts suggest Xi Jinping is asserting his authority by sidelining an officer who has significantly betrayed his trust<\/p>\n<p>Standing inches from Xi Jinping at a military ceremony in late December, China\u2019s highest-ranking general, Zhang Youxia, may have had little inkling about the fate that was to befall him just a few weeks later when he was put under investigation.<\/p>\n<p>The 75-year-old\u2019s physical proximity to China\u2019s leader, who stands to his right, reflects the position he holds in China\u2019s hierarchy. As vice-chair of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the ruling body of the People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA), he is the second-most powerful person in China\u2019s military, after Xi, the commander-in-chief.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/jan\/26\/china-top-general-zhang-youxia-power-struggle-corruption\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Experts suggest Xi Jinping is asserting his authority by sidelining an officer who has significantly betrayed his trustStanding inches from Xi Jinping at a military ceremony in late December, China\u2019s highest-ranking general, Zhang Youxia, may have had &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3580,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sns_share_botton_hide":"","vkExUnit_sns_title":"","_vk_print_noindex":"","sitemap_hide":"","_veu_custom_css":"","veu_display_promotion_alert":"","vkexunit_cta_each_option":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[41,50,42,49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-china","category-world-news","category-xi-jinping"],"veu_head_title_object":{"title":"","add_site_title":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3580"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76093"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76094,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76093\/revisions\/76094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}