China’s sudden removal of senior military leaders, including allegations that a top general leaked sensitive information to the United States, is raising new questions about internal turmoil inside the Chinese Communist Party and the readiness of the People’s Liberation Army.

Experts told Fox News Digital that while many details remain unclear, the scope of the apparent purge points to mounting instability under Chinese President Xi Jinping, with potential implications for regional security and rising tensions around Taiwan.

Beijing has not publicly confirmed espionage allegations, but reports published in Western media describe an extraordinary shakeup within China’s military leadership. Analysts caution that the lack of transparency makes definitive conclusions difficult, yet say the pattern of removals itself signals a system under strain.

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Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the non-partisan Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the developments appear driven by political control rather than an imminent move toward conflict.

"These unprecedented purges reflect Xi’s clear focus on control and cohesion — ensuring the People’s Liberation Army is politically reliable, centralized and obedient before it can be tasked with high-risk operations," Singleton told Fox News Digital.

"This does not mean conflict is imminent, but it does show how seriously Xi treats the prospect of having to use the military in the coming years."

Singleton said some observers have compared the developments to past authoritarian crackdowns, but argued a different historical parallel is more instructive.

"Some analysts are comparing these developments to Stalin-era purges in the late 1930s. There certainly are echoes, but I think the closer analogy is Moscow in 1979 — when Soviet political leaders pushed for the invasion of Afghanistan despite strong military warnings that it would be unsustainable and devolve into a costly guerrilla war."

He warned that China may now be facing a similar disconnect between political leadership and military reality.

"Xi’s purges may reflect a similar dynamic: political urgency to speed up invasion planning over Taiwan colliding with a military that senior Chinese officers know isn’t ready yet."

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China expert Gordon Chang, told Fox News Digital the uncertainty surrounding the purge highlights the depth of instability inside China’s system.

"There’s no way to make sense of this right now," Chang said. "All we can say is that the situation is fluid, that the regime is in turmoil, and probably the People’s Liberation Army is not ready to engage in major operations because dozens of senior officers have been either arrested or removed."

"This is an extraordinary situation," he added. "And this means that China, the country itself, not just the regime, but the country itself is unstable."

Chang also addressed reports alleging that a senior Chinese general was accused of providing sensitive nuclear-related material to the United States, claims that have not been officially substantiated by Beijing.

"The Wall Street Journal reported that the Ministry of National Defense has accused General Zhang Xiaoxiao of providing core technical material on China’s nuclear weapons to the United States," Chang said.

"That is really extraordinary. It also doesn’t sound right, because General Zhang just would not have that many opportunities to pass that type of material to the U.S."

Chang emphasized that his assessment was speculative. "This is just a guess, this is speculation," he said, adding that such accusations may serve as justification for harsh internal punishment rather than reflect confirmed espionage.

He also pointed to past intelligence failures to underscore his skepticism. "We know that the CIA has not had a good track record in China," Chang said, noting that about 30 CIA assets were executed after being uncovered several years ago.

"It would be stunning that the CIA has been able to reconstitute itself and get that type of material from one of the most senior figures in the Chinese regime," he said. "At this point I have to say that trust but verify."

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The continued removal of high-ranking officers, Chang argued, points to deeper fractures within the Communist Party itself.

"We are seeing a whole class of leadership being junked," he said, noting that the detained general was the most senior uniformed officer in China and second only to Xi Jinping within the Communist Party’s Central Military Commission. "To arrest and detain him is extraordinary by itself."

Singleton said that while purges may weaken China’s military in the short term, they could create greater risk over time.

"Purges can degrade near-term readiness, but over the long-term they increase political control over the military and reduce dissent, easing the path for riskier decisions down the line," he said.

Turning to Taiwan, Chang said a deliberate invasion remains unlikely given the current turmoil and the complexity of such an operation.

"I have never thought it was likely China would start hostilities by invading the main island of Taiwan," he said, citing the challenges of a combined air, land and sea assault and the instability inside the military.

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Still, he warned that instability does not mean reduced danger. "Although it’s unlikely that China would start hostilities deliberately, it’s highly probable that China will end up in a war," Chang said.

"Not like it’s China deliberately starting one, but China stumbling into one."

"I don’t think Xi Jinping is in a position to de-escalate a situation because of the turmoil in the Chinese political system," he added.

Taken together, analysts say the military shakeup underscores a growing paradox inside Beijing: as Xi tightens political control, instability may deepen rather than fade, increasing the risk of miscalculation at a time of heightened regional tension.

China’s embassy spokesperson in Washington D.C., Liu Pengyu, told Fox News Digital, "The Party Central Committee has decided to open disciplinary and supervisory investigations into Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli on suspicion of serious violations of discipline and law. This decision once again underscores that the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission maintain a full-coverage, zero-tolerance approach to combating corruption. Corruption is a major obstacle to the progress of the Party’s and the nation’s cause. The more resolutely the people’s armed forces fight corruption, the stronger, more united and capable they become."

President Donald Trump dramatically reversed course Tuesday on a U.K. plan to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius while warning it could jeopardize U.S. access to the Diego Garcia military base.

Trump’s reversal highlights what a defense expert called a "new Trump Doctrine" before linking the president's opposition to the Chagos deal with his Greenland push and citing fears Mauritius could later back out.

Writing on his Truth Social platform Tuesday, Trump called the U.K.’s Chagos decision "an act of great stupidity."

"Shockingly, our ‘brilliant’ NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital U.S. Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER," Trump wrote. "There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness."

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"Trump has done a 180, partly because of the U.K.’s support for Denmark’s sovereign claims over Greenland and partly because of a new strategy outlined by the White House," John Hemmings, director of the National Security Center at the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital.

"These moves are linked and part of a ‘new Trump Doctrine’" outlined in November’s National Security Strategy," he explained.

"Diego Garcia is a potential threat to Beijing’s strategy to control vital shipping lanes between the oil-rich Middle East and China’s industrial heartland," he added, describing how "nearly 23.7 million barrels of oil transit the Indian Ocean every day, with the base being vital in any U.S.-China conflict over Taiwan."

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In a separate post, Trump explicitly linked the Chagos dispute to his Greenland push.

"The U.K. giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is another in a very long line of national security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired," Trump wrote.

The Chagos Islands were separated from Mauritius during Britain’s decolonization process, a move the International Court of Justice ruled unlawful in 2019. 

The U.K. later agreed to transfer sovereignty while leasing Diego Garcia back for at least 99 years at a cost of at least $160 million annually.

Diego Garcia is a hub for long-range bombers, logistics and power projection across the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific and Africa. Around 2,500 personnel, mostly American, are stationed there.

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"If Mauritius were to offer the islands to China after taking de jure control, it would put immense pressure on the U.S. in the eyes of international public opinion," Hemmings explained.

"After all, once Mauritius has de jure sovereignty, it can renegotiate the lease terms or even renege on the treaty at any time it wants.

"It might also provide access to the exclusive economic zone, with all of its rich fishing grounds, to Chinese fishing fleets, adding another layer of risk to U.S. Air Force operations around the island," Hemmings said.

"At this moment, the U.S. base at Diego Garcia is thought to be secure, with Mauritius promising the U.K. (and by proxy, the U.S.) a 99-year lease, which will not, it is supposed, interfere with the operations of the air base at all. But the devil is in the details."

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.