Footage from state broadcaster CCTV further showed that CMC member Liu Zhenli was also absent. Liu Zhenli missed both sessions. And on 24 January the Ministry of National Defence said Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli had been formally placed under investigation. The investigations into Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli suggest that Xi Jinping’s control over the Chinese military has entered a phase of heightened political centralisation. Altogether, Xi’s approach increasingly resembles a Stalinist model of control, characterised by pervasive distrust of senior commanders and officials regardless of their past loyalty or credentials.