Chinese President Xi Jinping has promoted two senior People’s Liberation Army officers to the rank of general in a reshuffle of the military’s top command, as Beijing moves to rebuild its depleted command structure after years of anti-corruption purges.
The appointments are widely seen as a precursor to a broader reorganization at the highest levels and part of Xi’s efforts to strengthen the military’s loyalty to the ruling Communist Party.Xi promoted Zhang Shuguang, a veteran anti-corruption officer of the People’s Liberation Army, and Wang Gang, commander of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force, during a ceremony in Beijing on Friday, state media reported. Zhang was also appointed head of the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Central Military Commission, the military’s top anti-corruption oversight body.The promotions come after a lengthy anti-corruption campaign that has seen dozens of senior military officials investigated, removed or purged, reducing China’s seven-member top military command to just two serving members – Xi, who heads the commission, and Vice President Zhang Shengmin.Zhang Shuguang replaces Zhang Shengmin as head of the powerful Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Central Military Commission. Zhang Shengmin has held this position since 2017, even after being promoted to vice president of CMC in 2025.
According to state media, the appointments could enable Zhang Shuguang and Wang Gang to fill vacant positions on the seven-member commission, which has been exhausted by corruption investigations.The anti-corruption campaign also led to severe penalties for former senior officials. In May, two former defense ministers were given suspended death sentences.Earlier this year, Xi, who is also army chief, ordered senior PLA officers to undergo a ten-week intensive political retraining program after sacking a large section of the military’s top leadership.Addressing officers in April, Xi said: “All thoughts and actions seeking private gain and corruption are fundamentally inconsistent with the nature and purpose of the Party.”The program requires senior officers to study Xi’s writings, reconsider the Communist Party’s oath and conduct a self-examination, Reuters reported, citing a newspaper run by the People’s Liberation Army.Describing the exercise, the newspaper said that the officers, who were determined to “turn the blade of the knife upon themselves,” were directed “to expose their errors in the spirit of comprehensive self-revolution, and to identify and examine cases of contamination by malignant influence and manifestations of mutation.”The campaign has already led to the dismissal of two former vice-chairmen of the Central Military Commission, including the Supreme Commander of the Army, leading to the restructuring of the PLA’s top leadership.The current composition of the Central Military Commission was appointed in October 2022 and was originally expected to serve a five-year term. With the leadership significantly reduced in the wake of the anti-corruption crackdown, the latest promotions are expected to form part of a wider rebuilding of the commission ahead of the next Communist Party congress, expected in 2027, with further appointments expected when a new military commission is announced at the end of the current term.