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The disappearance of another high-ranking Chinese military official has demonstrated that no-one is indispensable to President Xi Jinping in achieving his goals.
Even those among his closest allies.
General He Weidong, China's second-ranking military official and co-vice chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), has not been seen in public since March 11.
His name was also absent from the official list of attendees at the funeral of his former colleague, Xu Qiliang, who was also a co-vice chairman of the CMC.
With silence often treated as confirmation in China's highly choreographed political system, He's ongoing absence confirms his removal from power.
His disappearance follows a similar pattern of recent high-profile purges. Former foreign minister Qin Gang and former defence minister Li Shangfu also disappeared from public view before they were removed from their positions.
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Xi and He both served in the local government of Fujian province in the 1990s and 2000s, with He promoted to "full general" — the highest military rank — in 2017 and eventually co-vice chairman in 2022.
It's a position that granted him more than just command of the military. It also made him a member of the elite Politburo — the top decision-making body of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
His sudden fall just three years into the role underscores the intensity of internal instability within the CCP.
Despite projecting a unified public image, the highest level of China's political system is a pressure cooker of competing ambitions, ideological divides, and factional loyalties.
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