China removes high-ranking officers Zhang Youxia, Liu Zhenli from key military body

BEIJING: China removed two high-ranking officers from the country's main military body on Friday, state media reported, seven months after it was announced that Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli were being investigated for "serious violations of the law".

Zhang's position as the more senior of two vice chairmen on the Central Military Commission (CMC) had made him China's highest-ranked general.

In January though, the defence ministry said that Zhang and Liu were "suspected of serious violations of discipline and the law", a common euphemism for corruption.

The announcement fit into the sweeping anti-graft drive that has defined President Xi Jinping's time in power -- but Zhang's fall from grace in particular shocked observers, given his seniority and the perception he was close to Xi.

On Friday, state news agency Xinhua said in a report on a meeting of the standing committee of China's parliament that "the meeting decided to remove Zhang Youxia from the post of Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China".

Liu, who was chief of staff of the CMC's joint staff department, which oversees combat planning, was also removed, it said.

The CMC is China's most important military decision-making body, chaired by Xi. Technically, there are two -- a state CMC and a Communist Party CMC. "For practical purposes, however, they are treated as one (and) the same in (China's) bureaucracy," Asia Society's Lyle Morris has written.

Friday's announcement relates to Zhang and Liu's positions in the state CMC rather than the Party one. Their removal will leave the CMC, which is supposed to have seven members, with only two known representatives: Xi and anti-corruption chief Zhang Shengmin.

Zhang and Liu's whereabouts are unknown, and no details have been given regarding the accusations against them.

At the time the investigation was announced, an editorial in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily said the two men had "seriously trampled on and undermined the system of ultimate responsibility resting with the CMC chairman" -- that is, Xi.