China's Military Purges Were Larger Than We Thought

"Xi Jinping has gone beyond even Mao's purges. And he has fundamentally reshaped the way that the military is going to be led. The purges - carried out in the name of ridding the PLA of corruption - have led to a drop in the number and size of major military exercises, and raised questions about the PLA's current capacity for complex operations."

"In the near term, given the significant vacancies, it would be incredibly difficult for China to launch large military campaigns against Taiwan. Even below that threshold, there is evidence that the purges have negatively impacted China's exercises around Taiwan in 2025."

"The report chronicles an unprecedented purge of China's military that has swept all service branches and jettisoned more than half of the PLA's senior officers. Retired Rear Admiral Mike Studeman said the purges were greater in scale and scope than any in the nearly eight-decade history of the People's Republic of China."

A comprehensive report by the China Power Project at CSIS reveals an unprecedented purge of China's military that has affected all service branches and removed more than half of the PLA's senior officers since 2022. The purges, conducted under the guise of anti-corruption efforts, have surpassed even Mao Zedong's elimination of the PLA high command in the early 1970s. The systematic removal of senior military leadership has resulted in significant operational consequences, including reduced frequency and scale of major military exercises and diminished capacity for complex operations. Analysts assess that these vacancies would make it extremely difficult for China to launch large-scale military campaigns against Taiwan in the near term, with evidence showing negative impacts on exercises around Taiwan in 2025.

Read at The Cipher Brief