Zhang, announced as the vice chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission (CMC), replaces He Weidong who was recently ousted from the position along with eight other senior officials expelled from the ruling party on grounds of “grave violations of Party discipline and state laws”.
This makes Zhang second only to Xi Jinping in China’s military chain of command and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Xi Jinping also serves as the General Secretary of the ruling CPC which gives him far more power than serving as the President. As the General Secretary, Xi Jinping controls every arm of the state, government, and military.
Zhang previously served as Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the CMC, the military’s top anti-corruption watchdog.
“The announcement of Zhang’s new role as CMC no. 2 VC, while announced at the fourth plenum, must have been in the works for a few weeks or months given the continued churn in the PLA and given He Weidong’s disappearance since March 2025,” Anushka Saxena, a research analyst specialising in China at the Takshashila Institution, told CNBC-TV18.
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“The purge of He Weidong and Miao Hua for highly serious crimes is both a matter of concern for Xi Jinping and a dark mark on the state of discipline in the PLA. With their removal, now the CMC has only one member left, which is Liu Zhenli,” Saxena added.
New members on the Central Committee to replace those expelled include Yu Huiwen, Ma Hancheng, Wang Jian, Wang Xi, Wang Yonghong, Wang Tingkai, Wang Xinwei, Wei Tao, Deng Yiwu, Deng Xiuming and Lu Hong.
The session deliberated over and adopted the inspection report of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on grave violations of Party discipline and state laws.
The Party also focused on an inspection report regarding alleged violations charged on senior officials including He Weidong, Miao Hua, He Hongjun, Wang Xiubin, Lin Xiangyang, Qin Shutong, Yuan Huazhi, Wang Chunning and Zhang Fengzhong.
“A call was issued to the whole Party, the entire military, and Chinese people of all ethnic groups to rally more closely around the Party Central Committee with Xi at its core,” the State Council of the People’s Republic of China said in a statement.
