• Five of six Central Military Commission members Xi appointed in 2022 are gone, leaving the Chief of Joint Staff Department vacant.

  • PLA Daily consistently insists commanders retain final authority over AI, with such articles rising 3.4-fold from 2018 to 2025.

  • Purges create incentives to misreport readiness, corrupting the very data that AI decision-support systems would need to compensate for weakened commanders.