Overview
- China’s Fourth Plenum confirmed Zhang Shengmin’s elevation to Central Military Commission vice chair, replacing the ousted He Weidong.
- The Central Committee replaced 11 members, its biggest single-meeting turnover since 2017, according to a state media communique.
- The defence ministry said nine senior officers were expelled, stripped of rank and referred to military prosecutors, including He Weidong and former political chief Miao Hua.
- He Weidong had been absent from public view since March, and his removal is described as the first ouster of a sitting CMC general since the Cultural Revolution.
- The CMC now has four serving members as other vacancies were left unfilled, with the purge spanning the Rocket Force, Eastern Theater Command and the People’s Armed Police, and PLA Daily framing the campaign as a continuation of earlier graft crackdowns on Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou.