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China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) officers stand in front of a window before a welcome ceremony for U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley at the Bayi Building in Beijing on Aug. 16, 2016. Mark Schiefelbein/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
China has quietly removed its ground forces’ third-ranking officer without explanation, adding to signs that purges in the military’s top brass are ongoing.
Lt. Gen. Cai Zhijun has been named the chief of staff of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Ground Force, according to footage of a meeting with Pakistani military leaders that was aired on CCTV, China’s state broadcaster, on July 25, which showed Cai’s new title.
The change means Cai has already replaced Lt. Gen. Li Zhonglin, who had held the role since at least February 2023.
No official explanation was given for Li’s departure, and it remains unclear whether Li will take a new job. The Chinese military, known for its secrecy, has become increasingly tight-lipped in recent months, following a series of high-level upheavals that have raised questions about Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping’s political control.
Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Li was under investigation as part of a sweeping purge of the military establishment, which has ensnared more than a dozen senior commanders and defense leaders.
The last time the PLA Army’s former commander appeared in official media reports was in August 2023, when he accompanied then-defense minister Li Shangfu on a visit to Belarus. After the trip, Li Shangfu vanished from public view for about two months before being unexpectedly removed from his ministerial position in October 2023. In June 2024, he was ultimately expelled from the Communist Party on corruption charges.
Following the minister’s downfall, another senior military official, Adm. Miao Hua, who oversaw the entire military’s political loyalty as an ally of Xi, was abruptly suspended and placed under investigation for alleged corruption in November 2024. Miao was kicked out of China’s top military body, the Central Military Commission (CMC), on June 27.
On the same day, the Chinese authorities announced that Vice Adm. Li Hanjun, chief of staff of the PLA Navy, had been expelled from the Party-controlled legislature, indicating that the navy’s third-ranking officer had become a target of the anti-corruption campaign.
In the wake of a string of scandals, China’s defense ministry has taken down a section from its website that introduced the military’s top leaders.
Meanwhile, the CMC has issued new regulations for the military’s political leaders, the PLA Daily, the army’s official newspaper, said on its front page on July 21.
The report didn’t mention when the regulation was issued, nor was the full text made public. The main purpose of this directive, according to the report, was to “comprehensively purge toxic influence and rebuild the image and credibility of political leaders.”
