China Expels 9 Top Generals, Including Two From Communist Party Leadership, In Sweeping Purge

In another major purge likely based on loyalty, China’s President Xi Jinping has embarked on another significant series of top level military firings, with the Communist Party having expelled nine senior generals in one of the most sweeping such moves in decades.

A Defense Ministry statement indicated the nine officers are under investigation for “serious financial misconduct.” Also unusual is that most of them were three-star generals and formed part of the party’s powerful Central Committee.

And it wasn’t just a demotion, but most were booted completely from the armed forces. The defense ministry statement said the nine had “seriously violated party discipline and were suspected of serious duty-related crimes involving an extremely large amount of money, of extremely serious nature, and with extremely detrimental consequences.”

They will face legal and military punishment as a result of the investigation which was a “significant achievement in the party and military’s anti-corruption campaign.”

The most notable figure to get dismissed is He Weidong – among the most senior generals in the group – who was a member of the 24-man Politburo, as well as the country’s second-highest-ranking military officer. And he was among powerful leaders immediately after President Xi Jinping, who chairs the Central Military Commission (CMC).

But there had been building speculation that Gen. He had run afoul of Xi and the party and was under a serious probe, given he hadn’t been seen in public since Mary.

According to more context from The Wall Street Journal:

Gen. He is the most senior active-duty military officer that Xi has purged, and the first incumbent vice chair of the Central Military Commission, or CMC, to be ousted in nearly four decades. The 68-year-old general, who hasn’t been seen publicly since March, is also the first sitting Politburo member to be investigated since 2017.

China last purged military officials at this level of seniority roughly a decade ago, when the party expelled two retired CMC vice chairmen on corruption charges during Xi’s first term as leader.

China and regional analysts knew something was afoot also when new guidelines issued by the CMC in July called for the elimination of “toxic influence” in the military and set forth what it called “iron rules” for top officers.

Below is the list of nine officers fired and under criminal investigation:

• He Weidong – Vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC)
• Miao Hua – director of the CMC’s political work department
• He Hongjun – executive deputy director of the CMC’s political work department
• Wang Xiubin – executive deputy director of the CMC’s joint operations command centre
• Lin Xiangyang – Eastern Theatre commander
• Qin Shutong – the Army’s political commissar
• Yuan Huazhi – the Navy’s political commissar
• Wang Houbin – Rocket Forces commander
• Wang Chunning – Armed Police Force commander

There could be more purges to come, given the top dismissals were announced just before next week’s annual closed door conclave of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, set for October 20 through the 23rd in Beijing to discuss the next five-year plan.

Next week is expected to reveal more of the ‘purge surge‘…

Who has Xi purged from the CCP Central Committee?

Attendance at next week’s Fourth Plenum will reveal the extent of his recent “purge surge”

If all rumors are true, only 168/205 members (82%) and 159/171 alternates (93%) will be there

And only 17/44 of PLA members (39%)!

1/ pic.twitter.com/E4oSPKKgxN

— Neil Thomas 牛犇 (@neilthomas123) October 15, 2025

Wen-Ti Sung, a fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, has been quoted in US media as saying, “Xi is cleaning house for sure. The formal removal of He and Miao means he will get to appoint new members of the Central Military Commission – which has been virtually half empty since March – at the Plenum.”