As of January 29, more than five days have passed since Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli were brought down, the Chinese military as a whole has issued no public statement of support yet. By contrast, when former Central Military Commission (CMC) vice chairmen Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong fell from power in 2014 and 2015, the military swiftly declared its “support for the central leadership’s decision” the following day.
Multiple sources close to the Chinese military say that officers and soldiers privately questioned whether detaining Zhang and Liu without publicly releasing evidence amounted to a political purge. This has seriously shaken confidence within the ranks in top-level decision-making and sparked strong discontent among personnel across several theater commands.
Military insiders further disclosed that a number of directives issued by the CMC have encountered widespread resistance at the grassroots level, leaving orders effectively unenforced. Among rank-and-file troops, some have even been heard referring to Xi Jinping as “Baozi,” a nickname commonly used by the public to mock him.
{Editor’s Note: Senior officials may fear that a large-scale purge of officers with close ties to Zhang and Liu is inevitable. As a result, even those who publicly express support may not avoid being targeted themselves.}
Source: NTDTV, January 30, 2026
https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2026/01/29/a104061477.html