On the night of January 18, China witnessed one of the deadliest events of its modern history since Tiananmen Square’s student revolt in May/June 1989.
The happenings were confirmed by many Chinese websites/blogs, though the official media did not acknowledge that a coup had been attempted with a possible assassination bid on Xi Jinping.
Apparently, it was just barely foiled when the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) was informed of the impending coup by unknown sources (some speculated that it could have been by the CIA).
For months, something had been cooking in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA); generals kept disappearing and, more importantly, were never replaced. Many believed that Gen Zhang Youxia, senior vice-chairman of the CMC and the most senior uniformed general, may be sidelined.
Already on August 20, 2025, when Xi Jinping landed at Lhasa Gongkar Airport to celebrate 60 years of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), Zhang was not present, although Xi was accompanied by a large delegation from Beijing. Wang Huning, No 4 in the Party, chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and member of the Politburo’s Standing Committee, as well as his colleague, Cai Qi, No 5, were in attendance.
Gen Zhang Shengmin, a recently appointed CMC member and head of its Discipline Inspection Commission, represented the PLA. He replaced Gen Zhang Youxia, who normally accompanies Xi (as he did in 2021, when Xi last visited the Roof of the World).
Incidentally, during his stay in Tibet, Shengmin toured close to the Indian border in the Shannan Military Sub-district and inspected various grassroots and military units.
At that time, I wrote in these columns, “Why Gen Zhang did not come is probably because Xi and Zhang (Youxia) have lately not seen eye to eye.”
Retrospectively, Shengmin had started stepping into the shoes of Zhang Youxia.
News from Beijing: An alleged coup at Jingxi Hotel
According to a well-known Chinese blogger, “A failed coup attempt was orchestrated by the two generals (Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli), senior cadres of the Party and the military. The operation was reportedly scheduled for the night of January 18th at the Jingxi Hotel in Beijing, a venue frequently used by top leadership.”
The plan allegedly involved capturing Xi Jinping to force a political reset, ostensibly to ‘save the party and country’.
The informed insider said, “The plot was reportedly compromised when intelligence reached Xi Jinping, roughly two hours before the operation was set to commence, allowing him to flee the hotel. When General Zhang Youxia’s forces arrived, they walked into a trap.”
This was followed by a violent confrontation, resulting in a gunfight that left nine of Xi’s personal guards and dozens of the mutinous security officers dead. Following the failed coup, Xi ordered the immediate arrest of both generals and the detention of their family members.
Sources assert that Zhang and Liu have not been arrested and are waiting to return; this is impossible to confirm.
Some sources even say that the US might be behind all this since they will be the first to benefit from chaos in the country. At this point, no hypothesis can be rejected.
The Reaction
An editorial published in the Liberation Army Daily, the Army official newspaper, affirmed that Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli “seriously betrayed the trust and expectations of the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission, severely trampled on and undermined the Chairman of the Central Military Commission’s responsibility system, seriously fostered political and corruption problems that undermined the Party’s absolute leadership over the military and threatened the Party’s ruling foundation, seriously damaged the image and prestige of the Central Military Commission, and severely impacted the political and ideological foundation for unity and progress among all officers and soldiers”.
In lay language, it means that they opposed Xi Jinping.
The First Assessments
In the present circumstances, it is difficult to immediately assess what has really happened, but it is not an insignificant event and will undoubtedly have consequences in China during the months and years to come.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Zhang was accused of leaking information about China’s nuclear weapons programme to the US and accepting bribes. This interpretation can be doubted; it seems part of the counter-propaganda orchestrated by Xi Jinping’s side to cover up the seriousness of the mutiny.
A Chinese blog rightly pointed out, “How would Zhang even do this? He would have to get these secrets from the China National Nuclear Corporation and transmit/hand them to an agent. But his communications are monitored, and he rarely (if ever?) meets anyone unaccompanied. It would require a pretty vast conspiracy to go undetected for a long time. And for the battle-hardened general to betray everything that gave his life meaning for last few decades. Possible, but very difficult.”
It must be remembered that Zhang Youxia has long been seen as the Chinese president’s closest military ally, though recent official statements point to disagreements with Xi Jinping over future PLA military operations. There is no doubt that open resistance to Xi’s directives has caused the generals’ downfall.
The China Brief’s Conclusion
The China Brief of the Jamestown Foundation has another analysis: “Based on official statements and recent developments in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), one can identify the probable core reasons and internal logic behind this purge. Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli most likely fell from power due to disagreements with Xi Jinping over PLA development, particularly the joint operations training timeline, and may have pursued policies or issued orders that ran counter to Xi’s directives. …Zhang Youxia’s timeline for PLA joint operations training did not align with Xi Jinping’s 2027 deadline for the PLA to be capable of invading Taiwan.”
This seems a sane deduction.
The article concludes: “…Whether Zhang and Liu remain in office or not, [it] would not have enabled the PLA to meet the 2027 target. [But] their continued presence instead posed a challenge to Xi’s authority.”
This is probably the main reason for the violent removal of the two generals; however, today, without senior officers with military experience, Xi will have to push back (or cancel) the 2027 Taiwan deadline. But was it feasible or realistic in the first place?
Where is China going?
Today, China has the most sophisticated war gadgets, the largest number of ships and the latest technology for rockets and space warfare, but it has fewer and fewer generals.
This raises a crucial question: who is going to lead the troops in case of a conflict? To give an example, Lt Gen Wang Haijiang, who since August 2021 has been commanding the Western Theatre Command (WTC) opposite India, has been missing since September 2024; earlier, Gen Wang had a long career in Tibet. He has not been formally purged.
Also missing in action are Lt Gen Yang Cheng, political commissar of the Xinjiang Military District, and Lt Gen Wang Kai, the commander of the Tibet Military District.
The generals were usually out in force for the National Day parade, giving observers a rare opportunity to see the PLA’s new generation of rising stars. The SCMP in Hong Kong observed, “[Such] events were also a valuable chance to learn who was in charge of each unit.”
While the names of 89 generals (including four full generals, two lieutenant generals and 83 major generals) leading 59 formations were announced for the 2025 September parade, none appeared on September 3, 2025.
Just before the start of the CPC’s fourth plenum on October 20, Senior Col Zhang Xiaogang, spokesperson for China’s defence ministry, confirmed some dramatic changes: “With the approval of the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee and the Central Military Commission, the CMC’s Discipline Inspection Commission and Supervisory Commission have opened formal investigations into nine senior military officials.”
It included Politburo member and CMC vice-chairman He Weidong and CMC member and director of the political work department, Miao Hua. According to the spokesperson, “Investigations revealed that all nine officials had seriously violated Party discipline and were suspected of committing major duty-related crimes involving extremely large sums of money.”
Today, only 2 out of 7 members of the CMC remain, but they are not professional soldiers.
One must also realise that a large percentage of these generals owe allegiance to Gen Zhang Youxia, the most experienced officer in China. All this looks ominous for the Communist Middle Kingdom, which can’t afford to undertake a conflict today.
In the meantime, India should not lower its defence and should stop thinking in terms of immediately solving the boundary issue; on the contrary, Delhi should prepare itself to recover Indian territory, for example, places like Shaksgam Valley.
And let us remember that today Xi Jinping is left alone.
(The writer is Distinguished Fellow, Centre of Excellence for Himalayan Studies, Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence (Delhi). Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.)
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