China’s Military Shake-Up Fuels Coup Speculation as State Outlet Issues Rare Rebuke

A Chinese state media outlet’s unusually harsh language after the purge has drawn scrutiny from analysts watching for signs of instability in the armed forces.

Members of the Chinese People's Liberation Army honor guard train in Beijing on Jan. 1, 2018. AFP/Getty Images

The sudden downfall of two of China’s most senior military officials has triggered an intense response from one of the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda outlets, fueling speculation among China analysts that the purge may be linked to an attempted challenge to Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s authority.

On Jan. 24, China’s Ministry of National Defense announced that Zhang Youxia, a Politburo member and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and Liu Zhenli, a CMC member and chief of the Joint Staff Department, were under investigation for “serious violations of discipline and law.”

Roughly eight hours later, the military’s official newspaper, the People’s Liberation Army Daily, published a sharply worded editorial condemning both men in language rarely used against military leaders of their rank.

The editorial accused Zhang and Liu of undermining the responsibilities of the CMC chairman, a post currently held by Xi. It further charged them with “endangering the Party’s ruling foundations,” damaging the military’s political loyalty, corrupting its internal command systems, and harming combat readiness—charges that are well beyond routine corruption allegations.

An Editorial With Political Weight

Officially, the People’s Liberation Army Daily framed the investigation as part of Beijing’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign. It urged the military to follow Xi’s command and maintain absolute unity around the Party’s Central Committee and Xi as its leader.

However, the editorial’s harsh criticisms—and its focus on political disloyalty rather than a corruption charge such as financial misconduct—have raised eyebrows among analysts.

Li Linyi, a commentator on Chinese current affairs, told The Epoch Times that the rhetoric appeared to lend credence to long-circulating rumors that Zhang and Liu may have attempted a political move against Xi.

Following the official announcement, Du Wen, a former legal adviser to the Inner Mongolian government who fled China and now lives in Belgium, said on his Chinese-language YouTube podcast that it is widely believed that Zhang and Liu attempted a coup against Xi under the banner of “saving the Party.” He described the situation as volatile.

The Epoch Times was unable to independently verify claims of an alleged coup attempt.

Du also alleged that Xi had ordered the entire Chinese military into a heightened state of readiness, instructing units to halt routine work and await further directives from the Party’s central leadership. According to his account, troops were confined to their posts, external communications were cut off, and units were forbidden from redeploying—measures that he said reflected Xi’s fear of forces moving toward Beijing.

Loyalty Tests and the Risk of Military Instability

Li said that although the official narrative portrays Xi as having reasserted control, the deeper effect within the military could be destabilizing.

“All soldiers and officers can see how quickly even the Party’s top leaders can fall,” he said. “If everyone is corrupt and disloyal by definition, morale erodes, and the risk of unrest increases rather than decreases.”

Su Tzu-yun, a research fellow at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told The Epoch Times that the episode reflects structural problems within Xi’s system of rule. He described the Party’s internal power struggles as an ominous sign for regime stability.

Su said that Xi has taken a politically hard-line, ideologically leftist approach that is increasingly incompatible with China’s economic realities, potentially provoking further internal crises.

“Xi himself has become the ultimate accelerator of the Party’s decline,” he said.

The latest shake-up follows a series of high-profile military purges over the past year. At the Party’s Fourth Plenum in October 2025, former CMC Vice Chairman He Weidong and CMC member Miao Hua, among others, were removed from their positions. These figures were previously viewed as close to Xi.

Just weeks after those purges, the Party’s propaganda mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, published an article by Zhang in which he mentioned Xi or “Chairman Xi” more than 20 times and warned others against becoming “two-faced” and displaying false loyalty.

“The system itself manufactures ‘two-faced persons,’” Li said, pointing out that past figures had publicly pledged loyalty before falling from grace.

“Zhang Youxia’s political declarations [of loyalty] meant nothing.”

Tang Bing contributed to this report.