General Zhao Zongqi, who led the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Western Theater 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 rumors 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 Reuters. 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 Theater. He was still in command during the May 2020 stalemate in eastern Ladakh, which resulted in the fatal Galwan conflict the following month.
In 2020, ANI reported that Zhao gave the go-ahead for the Galwan operation to “teach India a lesson” based on a US intelligence assessment.
The Galwan battle claimed the lives of twenty Indian soldiers. Although studies eventually showed a cover-up and estimated that at least 38 Chinese soldiers had killed, China formally acknowledged four PLA casualties.
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