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Editor's Note
The decimation of the top ranks of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) during the last two years has fueled an intense debate about the reasons behind the largest purge in the Chinese military in the post-Mao era. Despite the absence of credible evidence, many observers and journalists attribute the purge to factional strife and Xi Jinping’s insecurity. However, Joel Wuthnow’s close examination of the available evidence, primarily biographical records of the fallen PLA command
Minxin Pei
Feb 284 min read
Why Is Xi Still Purging His Generals?
The removal of PLA senior generals Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli in January 2026 represented the peak, if not the end, of a massive purge of the military leadership that began in mid-2023. The absence of credible information from Beijing has allowed many theories about the causes of these dismissals to circulate, which often center on factional politics or power consolidation. An examination biographical records, however, yields more support for the view that most purges are in
Joel Wuthnow
Feb 2827 min read
Occidental Fall: Assessing Chinese Views of U.S. Decline
China’s leadership, state media, and foreign policy analysts consider the U.S. a declining but dangerous power. That assessment has remained durable since Michael Swaine analyzed views in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in his 2021 essay for China Leadership Monitor , though the frequency of that assessment has fluctuated. The resilience of such views in the PRC press reflects genuine assessments of U.S. internal contradictions, the Chinese Communist Party’s Leninist pre
Jonathan A. Czin and Allie Matthias
Feb 2828 min read
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