Welcome to Foreign Policy’s China Brief.

The highlights this week: China announces a purge of military leaders, the Chinese Communist Party’s Fourth Plenum kicks off in Beijing, and fallout from a Chinese spy scandal continues in the United Kingdom.

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s China Brief.

The highlights this week: China announces a purge of military leaders, the Chinese Communist Party’s Fourth Plenum kicks off in Beijing, and fallout from a Chinese spy scandal continues in the United Kingdom.

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Last Friday, China’s Ministry of National Defense announced the expulsion of nine top military leaders from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) due to “serious job-related crimes.” Among those expelled are Gen. He Weidong, a member of the Politburo and a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Adm. Miao Hua, a top political commissar.

This wasn’t a dramatic overnight strike against Chinese President Xi Jinping’s foes, as some of the headlines have suggested. The leaders were arrested long ago, and the announcement is merely making it official. But why is it being revealed now, and what motivated these arrests in the first place?

Since mid-2023, Xi has been conducting serious military purges that follow a typical progression: Targets are arrested and indefinitely put into liuzhi, a form of

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