China’s top military command has been almost emptied out. Of the seven members chosen for the Central Military Commission in 2022, only Xi Jinping and one general remain active. Days before Xi met U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington last month, Beijing formally expelled Gen. Zhang Youxia, Xi’s longtime ally and former top military deputy, and Gen. Liu Zhenli, the former chief of the Joint Staff Department.

We do not know why Xi is doing this or what he intends to do next. But the purge has further strengthened his hand over the military. Reuters reported that analysts see Xi’s grip on the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as strengthened by the removal of senior commanders and their prote ges even as the upheaval weakens near-term readiness. If Xi chooses to invade Taiwan, impose a blockade or undertake another act of military aggression in the region, more of that decision now rests with him. We do not know whether he will. That freer hand adds risk.

The scale of the purge is extraordinary. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) found that 41 of the 47 officers who held........

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