News Analysis
Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s success in securing his third term was not as easy as it appeared. One of Xi’s allies, Zhang Youxia, played a critical role in helping him control the military and stabilize the situation.
Zhang Youxia was born in Beijing in July 1950. His father, Zhang Zongxun, was a general in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) military arm. During the war, he was inseparable from Mao Zedong as a bodyguard.
When the CCP seized power in 1949, he served as the deputy commander of the First Field Army. Mao experienced ups and downs in the inner-party struggle, but Zhang Zongxun always stood by Mao’s side. He served as the head of the military’s general logistics department during the turbulent years of the “Cultural Revolution” and retired from the political arena two years after the Cultural Revolution ended….