CHINA’S military leadership received an update as two officers were promoted by president and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) Xi Jinping, appointing the officers to top leadership posts in the process.
Lieutenant General Zhang Shuguang, a veteran People’s Liberation Army (PLA) anti-graft officer, and PLA Air Force (PLAAF) Commander Lt Gen Wang Gang were promoted to the rank of general during a ceremony in Beijing, the highest rank for active-service PLA officers.
Gen Zhang was then made now head of the Central Military Commission’s (CMC) powerful discipline inspection commission as the PLA’s top anti-corruption watchdog, , replacing Gen Zhang Shengmin who has held the post since 2017 even after becoming the CMC’s vice chairman in 2025. Not much is known of Gen Wang, but he had previously served as the PLAAF Chief of Staff before elevating to the air arm’s top job.
Over the past few years, anti-corruption investigations initiated by the Chinese leader have seen numerous senior officials and generals being investigated and removed, with two former defence ministers being handed suspended death sentences in May. The aftermath has made China’s supreme military command body just two-strong in contrast to the previous membership of seven.
Senior PLA officers were reportedly sent to an intensive ten-week political retraining course earlier this year, with Xi saying “All thoughts and actions of seeking private gain and corruption are fundamentally incompatible with the party’s nature and purpose.”–-shp/adj/dl (Pix:XINHUA, PAF)
