Those affected include top general Zhang Youxia, who is one of President Xi Jinping's closest allies in the military and one of the two deputy chairmen of the powerful Central Military Commission. Another senior general, Liu Zhenli, is also being investigated. Both have been removed from their posts.
The Central Military Commission is the collective command body overseeing all of China's armed forces — the army, navy, air force and nuclear-armed rocket forces — as well as the armed police and the militia. Its chairman is Xi, who, in addition to being the country's president, also serves as the ruling Communist Party's general secretary.
Among the three top posts Xi holds, the chairmanship of the military commission is widely considered the most powerful. According to Article 93 of China's constitution, it is the chairman of the commission — not the president, as is often assumed — who commands the armed forces.
