FPI / January 29, 2026Geostrategy-DirectBy Richard FisherWhile the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) abhors transparency, it also jumps to use outsiders’ lack of knowledge to advance deception stratagems for purposes ranging from sowing confusion to masking preparations for aggression. Gen. Zhang Youxia, as Vice Chairman of the CMC, is the most senior officer of the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), second only to CCP CMC Chairman Xi Jinping. ‘Princelings’ With A DifferenceWhat makes his fall so stunning is that Zhang’s and Xi’s fathers were revolutionary era friends, and both Zhang and Xi inherited their “princeling” status from their fathers’ revolutionary era service. However, with the purging of Gen. Zhang, a CMC that usually has seven members now only has two: Chairman Xi Jinping and former PLA Rocket Force Gen. Zhang Shenmin, now a Vice Chairman and Secretary of the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CMC. Subscription InformationFree Press International