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China has removed General Zhao Zongqi, who headed the Western Theatre Command of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) during the 2017 Doklam standoff and the 2020 Galwan Valley clash with India, from the country's top political advisory body. It was later reported that Zhao authorised the Galwan operation to "teach India a lesson".
It is the PLA's Western Command that controls Chinese military operations across Tibet and Xinjiang and along much of China's border with India.
Zhao was stripped of his Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) membership and relieved of two other posts. Beijing neither explained Zhao's removal nor announced an investigation against him. Zhao's removal has fuelled speculation that he is the latest senior military figure caught in Chinese President Xi Jinping's years-long widening purge of the PLA.
Zhao's removal came as China removed two other senior generals, Zhang Youxia, and Liu Zhenli, from the state Central Military Commission following investigations into suspected "serious violations of discipline and law", news agency Reuters reported. Xi's anti-corruption campaign, launched in 2012, which experts have termed a "purge", has seen scores of senior officers investigated, removed or expelled.
Zhao commanded the Western Theatre when Chinese and Indian troops confronted each other for 72 days at Doklam in 2017. He remained in charge when the eastern Ladakh standoff in May 2020, which culminated in the deadly Galwan clash the following month.
ANI reported in 2020, citing a US intelligence assessment, that Zhao authorised the Galwan operation to "teach India a lesson".
Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in the Galwan clash. China officially acknowledged four PLA deaths, although investigations later revealed a cover-up and estimated that at least 38 Chinese soldiers had died.
In 2017, India Today's then-China correspondent Ananth Krishnan reported that Zhao was considered responsible for China's handling of the 72-day Doklam standoff.
CHINA STRIPS ZHAO ZONGQI OF KEY POLITICAL POSTS
China's top political advisory body voted on August 26 to remove Zhao from the Standing Committee of the 14th 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.
News agency Reuters reported that China's political advisory body had removed Zhao, describing him as the former Western Theatre commander during the 2020 India-China border clashes.
His removal came amid an extraordinary upheaval in the PLA's senior leadership. Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli were removed from the state CMC on August 28, leaving only two active members (including Xi Jinping) on a body that once had seven.
ZHAO OVERSAW CHINA'S DOKLAM OPERATION
Zhao became the first commander of the reorganised Western Theatre Command in February 2016. The strategically important command controls PLA operations across Tibet and Xinjiang and along much of China's borders with India.
The Doklam confrontation began in June 2017 after Chinese troops attempted to extend a road across territory claimed by both China and Bhutan. Indian soldiers intervened near the India-China-Bhutan trijunction (near the Chumbi Valley), producing a military face-off that ended with disengagement after 72 days.
India Today reported in October 2017 that Zhao was "considered responsible for China's handling" of the standoff as he headed the Western Theatre Command. The report described him as the principal PLA figure responsible for China's military posture and engagement with India at Doklam.
Zhao was subsequently retained in the Communist Party's Central Committee, signalling that the Doklam episode had not damaged his political standing.
US INTELLIGENCE LINKED ZHAO TO GALWAN ATTACK OF 2022
The confrontation in eastern Ladakh began under Zhao's watch in May 2020, when the PLA deployed troops at several points along the Line of Actual Control. On June 15, Indian and Chinese soldiers fought with stones, rods and improvised weapons in the Galwan Valley, leaving 20 Indian soldiers dead.
A US intelligence assessment alleged that Zhao had authorised the operation that resulted in the clash, according to a report originally published by US News & World Report and subsequently cited by ANI.
The report, citing an anonymous source familiar with the assessment, said Zhao approved the operation and viewed the confrontation as a way to "teach India a lesson". It also suggested that the action was intended to demonstrate that China would not appear weak before India and the United States.
Zhao was replaced as Western Theatre commander in December 2020 after reaching retirement age. His removal from political office nearly six years later marks a reversal for a general who once oversaw China's military posture against a crucial neighbour, India, during two of the countries' most serious recent border confrontations.
Zhao's removal comes amid Xi's widening purge of the PLA, which has targeted theatre commands, weapons procurement, defence universities and the military's highest ranks.
A February 2026 assessment by the American think tank Center for Strategic and Studies found that 101 senior PLA officers had been dismissed or had disappeared, affecting about 52% of China's military leadership positions. Xi, meanwhile, urged senior Communist Party leaders in July to intensify the fight against corruption in the armed forces.
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Published On:
Aug 29, 2026 11:53 IST
