China ousts top general from elite military body as purge grows

China has removed a top general from the nation’s apex military body led by President Xi Jinping, as the defense establishment is facing a wave of purges.

Miao Hua, who oversees political loyalty in the armed forces, has been ousted from the national Central Military Commission, according to a statement from the National People’s Congress Standing Committee.

The six-man Central Military Commission is the armed force’s premier decision-making body, and one of the most powerful institutions in China. Under Xi, there are two vice chairmen serving as military leaders and three other members which included Miao — who’s seen as a close ally of the country’s top leader.

Xi’s government has unseated more than a dozen senior military figures since launching a corruption investigation last summer into hardware purchases going back to 2017. That probe resulted in the removal of China’s last two defense ministers from the Communist Party, as well as the ouster of several officials with ties to the secretive Rocket Force that oversees the nation’s nuclear arsenal.