The move comes less than a week before the “Two Sessions,” the Chinese Communist Party’s most important annual political gathering, begin in Beijing. The timing may signal an effort by Xi to consolidate control ahead of a year expected to focus heavily on economic management and internal stability.
Since taking office in 2013, Xi has overseen a sweeping anti-corruption campaign targeting thousands of senior and junior officials, whom he has described as “tigers and flies.” Since 2022, 101 generals and lieutenant generals have either been formally removed or disappeared from public view, per a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ China Power Project.
