Since 2023, the top echelons of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) have been purged due to a combination of factors, such as the fallout from the 2023 Rocket Force corruption scandal and the downfall of Zhang Youxia.
Given the recent promotions and reshuffling of new commanders, this may indicate that President Xi Jinping is beginning to feel confident in trusting the new cohort of flag officers.
In December 2025, President Xi Jinping promoted two lieutenant generals to the rank of general (the highest rank in the PLA), Air Force generals Han Shengyan and Yang Zhibin, to fill the posts of the Central Theatre Command and Eastern Theatre Command, respectively.
Han Shengyan was the former Air Force Commander of the Central Theatre Command between 2018 and December 2025. Before his new appointment, he was nominated as the parade commander of the 2025 China Victory Day commemorating the 80th anniversary of China's victory against Imperial Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War (which later merged into the Asian front of the Second World War).
The Central Theatre Command (encompassing the provinces and cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and Hubei) has the primary responsibility of protecting the capital, Beijing. It also serves as a strategic reserve. Its three battle corps (81st, 82nd and 83rd Group Armies) may be strategically redeployed to other Theatre Commands during times of crisis or wars to augment troop strength.
Yang Zhibin was the former deputy commander of the Eastern Theatre Command, replacing Lin Xiangyang, who was purged in October 2025. Before transferring to the Eastern Theatre Command, he was the deputy in the Southern and Western Theatre Commands.
The Eastern Theatre Command is perhaps the most strategically sensitive region in China as its main Area of Responsibility (AOR) covers the provinces of Anhui, Fujian, Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Zhejiang, as well as Shanghai, the East China Sea and Taiwan. It is also likely responsible for matters related to Japan.
So far, only Generals Han Shengyan and Yang Zhibin have been promoted and formally appointed to their roles. The rest of the Theatre Command commander and commissar posts are being staffed by acting lieutenant generals since late 2025.
A similar story can be seen in the Central Military Commission (CMC), with more and more lieutenant generals with air force backgrounds being put into key positions. The acting director of the Joint Operations Command Centre is held by Lt. Gen Dong Li; Lt. Gen Liu Di at Training and Administration; Lt. Gen Chen Chi at Logistics Support. Even the acting commander of the PLA Rocket Force, Lt. Gen Lei Kai, has an air force background.
A common thread between the recent promotions and replacements of purged flag officers is the late first-ranked vice chairman of the CMC between 2012 and 2022, Air Force General Xu Qiliang. During his tenure, many of the air force generals were promoted to flag officers, but after 2022, when Xu stepped down and retired, and Zhang Youxia was the first-ranked CMC vice chairman, many of the same air force generals' careers had stopped.
It is a possibility that the PLA's discipline committee removed all flag officers promoted and elevated to key positions under the disgraced 2022 CMC committee. Thus, an obvious choice to fill out key positions is the many Air Force generals whose careers were stunted after 2022. Furthermore, it also seems that the PLA Air Force (PLAAF) remains cleaner due to their far more rapid institutional replacements. For example, Lt. Gen Yin Wei was recently formally promoted to the PLAAF's Chief of Staff while other branches still retain acting lieutenant generals filling.
Given that many of these flag officers, both acting and formally promoted, were only assigned these posts since late December 2025, this may be interpreted as an indication that President Xi Jinping has begun to place his faith and confidence in his new cohort of flag officers.
Additionally, this also marks a shift as normally, many of these upper echelon posts were usually filled by army generals. A shift to the air force could additionally indicate a transformation of the PLA's approach to military doctrine.
As tensions between China and Japan reach an all-time high, the PLA has now recognised Japan's military force as a real threat to a hypothetical military invasion to reunify Taiwan. Any Japanese intervention force to aid Taiwan must achieve air superiority over the East China Sea and perhaps the airspace over Taiwan itself to guarantee safe passage of material and military assets.
Furthermore, any U.S. intervention will primarily be through its air force and naval aviation via its carrier force. Hence, in order to deny and destroy any opposing force, the PLA will need to achieve air superiority.