The PLA General who gave the order for Galwan operations to “teach India a lesson” is targeted by Xi’s purge.

General Zhao Zongqi, who led the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Western Theatre Command during the Doklam stalemate in 2017 and the Galwan Valley conflict with India in 2020, has been kicked out of China’s highest political advisory body. Zhao reportedly gave the Galwan operation permission to “teach India a lesson.”

Chinese military operations throughout Tibet, Xinjiang, and a large portion of China’s border with India are governed by the PLA’s Western Command. Zhao was dismissed of two other positions and had his membership in the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) revoked. Beijing did not declare an inquiry into Zhao or provide an explanation for his dismissal.

Zhao’s dismissal has stoked rumours that he is the most recent high-ranking military official targeted by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s years-long, expanding PLA purge.

Following investigations into alleged “serious violations of discipline and law,” Xi’s China dismissed Zhao along with two other senior generals, Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, from the state Central Military Commission, according to news agency.

Numerous senior officials have been probed, dismissed, or expelled as part of Xi’s anti-corruption effort, which began in 2012 and has been dubbed a “purge” by experts. When Chinese and Indian troops engaged in a 72-day conflict at Doklam in 2017, Zhao was in charge of the Western Theatre. He was still in command during the May 2020 stalemate in eastern Ladakh, which resulted in the fatal Galwan conflict the following month.

China’s top political advisory body voted on August 26 to remove Zhao from the Standing Committee of the 14th National Committee of the CPPCC. He was also dismissed as deputy director of its ethnic and religious affairs committee and stripped of his CPPCC membership.

The decision was announced by state-run Xinhua and published by the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The announcement gave no reason for the action and did not say whether Zhao was being investigated for corruption or any other violation.

The PLA’s senior leadership underwent a remarkable shift at the time of his dismissal. On August 28, Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli were expelled from the state CMC, leaving Xi Jinping and two other active members on a body that had previously numbered seven.