The National People's Congress (NPC) announced on Saturday the expulsion of 13 prominent deputies from the 2,858-member upper legislature.

The draconian move coincided with China's Ministry of Defense and the National Anti-Corruption Agency's announcement of specialized investigations and unprecedented disciplinary measures targeting front-line generals and senior commanders of the People's Liberation Army.

This broad escalation reflects the extent of President Xi Jinping's accountability train to purge military and civilian institutions of legal abuses and graft.

Parliamentary Dismissals and the Six Generals

The official statement issued by the National People's Congress revealed that among the 13 officials included in the decision to dismiss and immediately dismiss, 6 are prominent military generals.

Among the dismissed military names was General Xu Xueqiang, who is directly responsible for the sensitive equipment development file of the Central Military Commission, the influential supreme body that leads China's armed forces and guides its modernization plans.

Although China's parliament, whose members are fully appointed and not elected, has not publicly disclosed the immediate reasons behind the abrupt dismissals, the move is an extension of similar dismissal decisions against a number of military officials in February ahead of the parliament's annual session.

Prosecuting the president's closest allies

On the high-level investigative front, China's Ministry of Defense announced the opening of a formal investigation into two heavyweight military officials on suspicion of committing "serious violations" related to discipline and law.

The investigation included General Zhang Yuxia, 75, and General Liu Chenli, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Central Military Commission.

The announcement is strategically significant given that Gen. Zhang Yuxia, who is vice chairman of the Central Military Commission and a member of the party's Politburo, is widely seen in international security circles as President Xi Jinping's closest military ally and one of the few veteran officers with actual combat experience. Foreign diplomats and analysts are therefore watching the investigation very closely, given the profound dimensions it leaves on the senior command structure and the ongoing efforts to modernize the Chinese military.

A historical precedent not seen in Beijing

Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang confirmed that two of the most senior military commanders from the ruling Communist Party and the military have been expelled on heinous corruption charges involving extremely large sums of money. They are General He Wei Dong, the country's second-most senior general and member of the 24-member Politburo, and Admiral Miaowa, the military's former top political officer.

The dismissal of General He Weidong is a historic precedent, marking the first dismissal of a prominent Chinese general while on active duty in the Central Military Commission since the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The ministry said the crimes against them and seven other military officials named in the investigations had "very serious consequences", calling their dismissal a major achievement for the party.

Combating Corruption in the Civil Service

The ruling party's strikes were not limited to the military uniform: China's anti-corruption agency (Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and National Supervisory Commission) announced that He Qiliang, vice minister of the Central Administration of Social Work, had been subjected to a disciplinary review and an intensive supervisory investigation on suspicion of "serious legal violations."

These successive collapses in China's leadership are part of a large-scale crackdown on corruption and graft ordered by President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.

The culmination of this purge campaign reached the levels of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) high command in 2023 when it targeted the strategic "missile corps", followed by the expulsion of 8 senior generals in October 2025, as well as the dismissal of two former defense ministers over the past few years on the same charges.

International observers, including Wen Ts-song, a fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global China Center, agree that the Chinese president is carrying out a "thorough cleaning of the inner house" to ensure total loyalty and iron discipline ahead of key party meetings.