China removed nine military officials from its legislature ahead of a critical set of political meetings, marking an expansion of leader Xi Jinping’s purge campaign.
Xi in recent years has supercharged an effort aimed at rooting out military corruption — since 2022, some 100 top officers have been dismissed or sidelined, a recent study estimated. That most recently included Xi’s top general, who was seen as a close confidant.
The latest removals come less than a week before China’s two main political bodies gather for the “two sessions,” the annual legislative meetings where policymakers set the country’s military, economic, and diplomatic agenda.
