Central Military Commission
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Search complete. 67 mentions across 45 episodes found for "Central Military Commission".
Nov 6, 2026
Chris ArpsHOST
Speaking of China, Steve, they recently had their Communist Party conclave.
Chris ArpsHOST
They formally expelled 33 members, including five of the seven Central Military Commission members that were just appointed in 2022.
Chris ArpsHOST
Your thoughts on that development?
Steve BucciGUEST
Yeah, that happens in communist countries periodically.
Neil ThomasGUEST
It was well signaled that this Plenum would focus on party discipline and internal governance, and that's exactly what we got, a very long decision, mostly rehashing a lot of existing Xi priorities and not giving us a lot of detail on... new that might be coming down the pipe.
Neil ThomasGUEST
I'd say the main surprise emerging from this plenum was the promotion of Jiang Shenmin, Xi Jinping's deputy on the Central Military Commission, a
Bonny LinHOST
PLA general,
Neil ThomasGUEST
to the Politburo, a PLA general who's been in charge of his anti-corruption and discipline campaign in the military for the last nine years or so.
Neil ThomasGUEST
To me, there's two possible hypotheses, and I'm not sure we have a good way of knowing exactly which one it is.
Neil ThomasGUEST
The first would be that Jang Seung-min is the one person she feels in that generation of PLA leaders that he can trust and that he needs someone experienced there in his next term after the 21st Party Congress next year to help him run the military and to supervise a whole new generation of PLA leaders who will be promoted to replace those that have been purged this term when, you know, the vast majority of all PLA members on the Central Committee have been removed.
Neil ThomasGUEST
The other explanation would be that this is more of a procedural or symbolic move to ensure that there's still at least one PLA representative on the Politburo, because it was only at this plan on that we got the formal expulsion, the formal confirmation of the expulsion of Zhang Youxia, who was previously on the Politburo and previously a Central Military Commission deputy.
Neil ThomasGUEST
And so if there was no promotion of Zhang Xingmin, then for the first time in several decades, perhaps ever, there would have been no military representative on the Politburo.
John BatchelorHOST
And as of now, there's been no replacement of Zhang?
Piero TozziGUEST
So you have one other member of the Central Military Commission is Zhang Shenming, but he's a political commissar.
Piero TozziGUEST
He doesn't have any operational command experience.
Gordon ChangHOST
And
Piero TozziGUEST
It goes to that red versus expert.
Piero TozziGUEST
They've replaced the expert with the red commissar.
Gordon ChangHOST
The question that I would have asked if I had one more is, at the Fifth Plenum, we did not see a replacement of the vacancies on the Communist Party's Central Military Commission, which is seven members and now has only two.
Gordon ChangHOST
And as you point out, Piero, the two, you know, neither of them is a... operational officer.
Daria ImpiombatoGUEST
So one of them was the promotion of General Jiang Shenming to the Politburo.
Daria ImpiombatoGUEST
He had been elevated to vice chairman of the Central Military Commission last year, and that role usually comes with also a spot in the Politburo.
Daria ImpiombatoGUEST
But he wasn't part of this central decision-making body just yet.
Daria ImpiombatoGUEST
This elevation was, let's say, rare to see at a plenum because it normally happens during the party congresses every five years.
Daria ImpiombatoGUEST
It remains to be seen what will happen in Xi Jinping's next term, which is almost ensured at this stage, but for now, not much to report yet.
Katja DrinhausenGUEST
And maybe one additional point, since Dari had mentioned the extraordinary promotion of Jiang Chengming.
Katja DrinhausenGUEST
Yes, it was extraordinary, but at the same time, it was relatively inconsequential when it comes to kind of binding Xi to a specific setup for the Central Military Commission.
Katja DrinhausenGUEST
while Jiang Shemin himself was promoted, there was no kind of restocking of the membership of the Central Military Commission.
Ben LewisHOST
The military was hit hardest.
Ben LewisHOST
Half of the recent expulsions came from the armed forces and five of the seven members of the Central Military Commission have now been removed.
Ben LewisHOST
It's also raised questions around what kind of impact that's going to have on China's combat readiness.
Ben LewisHOST
These historic purges come ahead of next year's Party Congress.
Ben LewisHOST
The military was hit hardest.
Ben LewisHOST
Half of the recent expulsions came from the armed forces and five of the seven members of the Central Military Commission have now been removed.
Ben LewisHOST
It's also raised questions around what kind of impact that's going to have on China's combat readiness.
Ben LewisHOST
These historic purges come ahead of next year's Party Congress.
Tommy VietorHOST
The expulsions include lots of top military officials.
Tommy VietorHOST
The body that actually commands China's armed forces is called the Central Military Commission, or CMC.
Tommy VietorHOST
The CMC has been reduced from seven members down to two, and one of the two is Xi Jinping.
Tommy VietorHOST
But the expulsions do not stop just at the military.
JB WhiteHOST
Conehead Mark Kelly warned military officers that obeying the current commander in chief's orders could put them in prison under the next commander-in-chief.
JB WhiteHOST
Chairman Xi has three titles, but this is the most important of them all, chairman of the Central Military Commission, because it makes him the commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army, the largest military in the world by number of troops.
JB WhiteHOST
Its tanks are not for fighting foreign wars.
JB WhiteHOST
Those tanks are to control the civilians in Red China.
Cary DunstHOST
That's a 25.8% absence rate.
Cary DunstHOST
Five of the seven members of China's Central Military Commission, which were appointed back in 2022, have now been purged.
Cary DunstHOST
They include former Vice Chairman Zhang Yuxia and former Defense Minister Li Shengfu.
Cary DunstHOST
The party also elevated discipline official Zhang Xiangmin to the Politburo, signaling the growing importance of internal oversight.
Gordon ChangGUEST
The Chinese military looks great on paper, but its leadership has been decimated by the continual purges.
Gordon ChangGUEST
And so, for instance, the Communist Party Central Military Commission, which controls the People's Liberation Army, seven members.
Gordon ChangGUEST
Now it has only two.
Gordon ChangGUEST
It has Xi Jinping himself, who's not a military officer, and it has a general.
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