The purge of China’s military elite and the rise of Cai Qi.

By Probe International

The secrecy surrounding the purge of China’s top general, Zhang Youxia, and top operational commander, Liu Zhenli, has left even seasoned observers of Chinese politics uncertain about the underlying dynamics at play.

In an interview with The Free Press, prominent activist and China monitor Dimon Liu explores the suggestion that a balance of power among Chinese Communist Party elites has shifted in favor of Party bureaucrats. He cites China’s most famous political dissident, Wei Jingsheng, who compares the current era of purges to China’s Cultural Revolution, but in reverse order—this time, the military is being purged first. Wei posits that Xi Jinping may not be the one orchestrating these purges, but rather could be at risk himself, as the very officials he once relied on gain power.

Exploring this further, Wei is said to believe that Party apparatchiks (career bureaucrats and officials) are the masterminds behind the current military purges. While Wei did not explicitly name the leader of this clique, historian Robert Suettinger identifies that role as likely belonging to Cai Qi, the second most powerful man in China after Xi Jinping, and whose rapid ascent is a reflection of Xi’s deep trust in him. Described as Xi’s right-hand man, Cai is both a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the regime’s highest decision-making body, and serves as the director of the CCP General Office, which oversees the daily operations, logistics, and security of the Party’s top leadership.

Speaking to Vision Times, a news source critical of the Communist regime, political commentator Cai Shenkun concurred that Cai Qi is one to watch:

“We don’t know where Xi Jinping’s enemies are right now. But to fundamentally change the CCP’s political trajectory, or to alter the balance of power at the top, it would have to be someone who controls Xi’s personal safety—his very life. Only such a person could do it.”

Cai Qi stands alongside Xi Jinping much like Zhou Enlai once did with Mao Zedong, notes Vision Times—overseeing Xi Jinping’s personal security, he possesses intimate knowledge of his health, placing Xi’s life and death directly in his hands.

He is also the suspected ringleader of an alleged Westminster Chinese spy ring. The U.K. government released a witness statement suggesting that Cai had received intelligence about British politics from two British men arrested in 2023 and charged in 2024 with spying for China under the Official Secrets Act. Christopher Cash (a former researcher for senior U.K. MPs) and Christopher Berry (a teacher/academic based in China), allegedly gathered insider information about U.K. politics and government policy between 2021 and 2023 for a Chinese intelligence agent who is believed to have passed these reports to a high-ranking Chinese official identified as Cai Qi.

The case collapsed however in September 2025, with reports suggesting that prosecutors could not prove China was an “enemy” at the time or that the information was directly harmful to national security.