The fall of the generals: China’s military purge

Not since the era of Mao Zedong has China seen “a purge of this magnitude”, said The Indian Express (Noida). On 24 January, Beijing announced that the nation’s highest-ranking general, Zhang Youxia, was being investigated for “suspected serious violations of discipline and law” – party-speak for corruption.

The move was extraordinary because Zhang, a Politburo member, had been one of Xi Jinping’s closest allies; both were “princelings” whose fathers were senior figures in the early Chinese...