The 75-year-old’s physical proximity to China’s leader, who stood to his right, reflected the position he held in China’s hierarchy. Dennis Wilder, a senior fellow at Georgetown University and a former senior CIA analyst, said a power struggle was a more likely explanation than corruption. The purge “isn’t about corruption, it isn’t about leaking secrets, it is about a general that became too powerful,” Wilder said. For Western analysts, the biggest question is what it means for China’s military buildup, and particularly its readiness to launch an assault on Taiwan. Zhang and Liu are likely to be interrogated about whatever offenses they are specifically accused of, which would throw up more names.

Source: Taipei Times January 29, 2026 17:44 UTC