China expels two former Communist Party defense ministers as corruption purge worsens

CNN
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China on Thursday expelled its former Defense Minister Li Changfu and his predecessor from the ruling Communist Party over corruption allegations, China Central Broadcasting Corporation (CCTV) reported. Sweeping disinfection In the highest military ranks.

it was mine Removal In October last year with no explanation afterwards disappeared Out of public view for two months, amid a series of high-level changes that have rocked the world’s largest military.

Lee’s mysterious disappearance and drastic ouster after only months on the job inflamed him Intense speculationcomes after Sudden dismissal to two top generals of the People’s Liberation Army’s Rocket Force, the elite unit that oversees China’s nuclear and ballistic missiles, also without explanation.

Thursday’s announcement is the first official confirmation from Chinese authorities that corruption accusations were behind his dramatic disappearance.

In a sign of the scale of the high-level purges, Li’s predecessor, Wei Fenghe, was expelled from the Communist Party on Thursday over corruption allegations, according to CCTV.

Both Li and Wei are former members of the Central Military Commission – a powerful body headed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who ultimately leads the armed forces.

Li was placed under the military’s internal investigation for “serious violations of party discipline and the law” on August 31 last year, according to CCTV, two days after he last appeared in public at a security forum in Beijing.

Investigations by the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China Central Committee found that Li seriously violated political and organizational discipline, resisted investigation, sought “personal advantages” for himself and others, and received “huge sums of money” in the form of bribery as well as bribery. Others.

“As a senior party and military leader, Li Shangfu betrayed his original mission and lost sight of the principles of the party spirit,” the CCTV report said, adding that his actions “betrayed the trust and responsibility bestowed on him” by the top leadership of the party and military.

His actions “severely distorted the political and industrial environment of the military equipment sector, and caused great harm to the Party’s cause, the development of national defense and the military, and the image of the senior leadership,” CCTV said.

“The nature of his misconduct is extremely serious, its impact extremely damaging, and the consequences particularly severe.”

Wei, who served as defense minister from 2018 to 2023, was also accused of serious violations of political and regulatory controls, resisting investigation, bribery, as well as “collapse of faith and loss of loyalty,” according to CCTV.

CCTV said that the cases of Li and Wei have been referred to the military prosecution for trial, adding that the two generals have been stripped of their military ranks.

The allegations in the CCTV reports appear to point to corruption in the procurement and development of Chinese military equipment, with a possible focus on the missile force – which has been a key component of Xi’s efforts to “modernize” and transform the People’s Liberation Army. To a “world-class” fighting force.

Before becoming defense minister, Li headed the People’s Liberation Army’s Equipment Development Department for five years, while Wei was the inaugural commander of the Missile Force when it was revamped at the end of 2015.

Since last summer, more than a dozen high-ranking military officers and aviation executives in the military-industrial complex have been stripped of their public roles.

Xi has made rooting out corruption and disloyalty a hallmark of his rule since coming to power in 2012, and the purges suggest the campaign is far from over within the military.

This story has been updated with additional information.