New Delhi: China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) has stripped six senior People’s Liberation Army (PLA) generals of their lawmaker status, the latest sign of President Xi Jinping’s ongoing crackdown on corruption within the military.
The NPC, China’s top legislative body, revoked the officers’ status as deputies – a move widely seen as a public signal that they are under investigation, since many senior military figures also hold seats in the legislature.
The most senior officer removed is General Xu Xueqiang, head of the Equipment Development Department, which oversees the development, procurement and testing of weapons for the Chinese military. Xu has also led China’s Manned Space Programme since 2022. Five other officers lost their NPC seats alongside him. General Li Fengbiao, political commissar of the PLA Western Theatre Command; General Guo Puxiao, political commissar of the PLA Air Force; Lieutenant General Wang Kangping of the Eastern Theatre Command; Lieutenant General Zhang Minghua of the Cyberspace Force; and Lieutenant General Yin Hongxing.
The NPC also removed two civilian officials from the legislature: Ma Xingrui, former Communist Party chief of Xinjiang, and Li Yunze, former head of the National Financial Regulatory Administration. According to reports, Ma came under investigation by China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) in April this year, while Li’s profile was quietly removed from the regulator’s website that same month, ahead of his successor’s appointment in May.
Since taking power in 2012, Xi has made the anti-corruption campaign central to his governance, framing it as an effort to improve discipline and root out graft. The drive has also driven a sweeping reshuffle of China’s military and political elite. The latest removals come as Beijing pushes to modernize its armed forces amid rising regional and global security tensions.
Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign within the military has intensified dramatically since 2023, evolving into one of the most extensive shake-ups of the PLA in decades. According to CSIS data, 36 generals and lieutenant generals have been officially purged since 2022, with dozens more missing or potentially under investigation.
The campaign has reached the top of the military hierarchy, claiming defence ministers Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu in 2023 and 2024 and CMC vice chairman General He Weidong and political chief Admiral Miao Hua in 2025. The removal of senior generals Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli in January 2026 was among the latest purges.