Total speculation, obviously, but putting all this information about military purges together, it looks like China did some internal checks on its military capabilities after the Russian military fell apart in the early months in Ukraine. The results caused Xi’s personal friends to get fired and others to get tortured and killed. The western spy angle could have been true for some of them, but is likely a convenient reason to sell the purge to the public.
Total speculation, obviously, but putting all this information about military purges together, it looks like China did some internal checks on its military capabilities after the Russian military fell apart in the early months in Ukraine. The results caused Xi’s personal friends to get fired and others to get tortured and killed. The western spy angle could have been true for some of them, but is likely a convenient reason to sell the purge to the public.