All eyes on Standing Committee amid probe against 2 Chinese generals

The 59th meeting of the Council of Chairpersons of the 14th NPC Standing Committee had decided on Monday to hold its 20th session in Beijing on Feb. 4, according to an official statement.

It added that the Standing Committee will review the report of the Credentials Committee on the qualifications of individual deputies.

The review comes after China’s Defense Ministry announced on Jan. 24 that Gen. Zhang Youxia and Gen. Liu Zhenli were put under investigation for “suspected serious discipline and law violations.”

Whether the Standing Committee deliberates on the fate of the two generals remains to be seen.

They are among the seven members of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Military Commission (CMC), led by President Xi Jinping.

With the latest probe, the CMC is left with only two active members, including Xi and Zhang Shengmin, who serves as secretary of the commission’s discipline inspection body.

Gen. He Weidong, Gen. Li Shangfu and Admiral Miao Hua were investigated and removed from the CMC in recent months.

Zhang is a member of the Communist Party of China’s Political Bureau as well as vice chairman of the CMC.

Liu is a member of the CMC and chief of staff of the CMC Joint Staff Department.

The duo is among some 30 Chinese senior military officials who have been investigated or removed since 2023, when Xi began his unprecedented third term.