Chinese President Xi Jinping Removes Senior Military Officer General Zhao Zongqi from Political Advisory Body

China has removed General Zhao Zongqi from the country's highest body of political advisors. Zhao Zongqi commanded the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) Western Theatre Command during the 2017 Doklam standoff and the 2020 Galwan Valley clash with India. According to China's state-run Xinhua news agency, Zhao was removed from the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and two other posts. However, Beijing gave no reason for his removal nor announced any investigation against him. Zhao's removal comes at a time when Chinese President Xi Jinping is carrying out a major purge of officials in the PLA. The crackdown includes senior military officers, theatre commands, arms procurement and defence universities. Xi, who is also the secretary-general of the ruling Communist Party of China and chairman of the Central Military Commission, recently removed two senior military officers, Zhang Yuxia and Liu Zhenli, from the CMC and the only two members of the Western Theatre Command left active in the PLA after Zhang Liu himself was removed.