When news emerged at the weekend that one of China's most decorated generals had been purged, rumours swirled around Beijing. 

The official line was that Zhang Youxia, and later another top general, had been ousted from their jobs due to “serious violations of discipline and law”. 

That is widely understood as code for corruption but no more details were forthcoming. 

This led to speculation that the reason Chinese president Xi Jinping took the action against Zhang, a man believed to be untouchable because of his military background and his long, personal relationship with the president, was because he was no longer loyal and was plotting against him. 

For Irish Times Beijing based-correspondent Denis Staunton, talk of a coup by military generals is wide of the mark. Instead it appears that Xi, who has been on an anti-corruption sweep of government at all levels since he took office, began looking at the military and the top brass came into his sights.

So is Xi simply – and ruthlessly – consolidating his power? And what does this sudden and dramatic change in military leadership structure mean for the country’s long-stated ambition of taking control of Taiwan?

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan and John Casey. 

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