The Chinese Communist party has expelled two former defence ministers for corruption, including Li Shangfu, who disappeared from public view along with other senior figures last year.
Li was sacked as defence minister in October, two months after he disappeared from public life. He served just seven months as defence minister. No explanation was given for his sudden removal, which temporarily destabilised efforts to rebuild US-China defence dialogues.
On Thursday, Chinese state media said that Li and Wei Fenghe, another former defence minister, had been expelled from the CCP for “serious violation of party discipline and the law”. The accusations against the two men include accepting gifts and money and facilitating improper benefits for others.
The allegations are the result of a months-long investigation by the central military commission.
State media said that Li’s and Wei’s cases would be transferred to the prosecutorial wing of the military for criminal charges.
Wei was defence minister immediately before Li, having served since 2018. He previously led the rocket force, a sensitive arm of the military responsible for China’s nuclear arsenal. Wei had also largely disappeared from public events.
Last year brought a series of dramatic reshuffles in China’s military leadership, including in the rocket force, where two top generals were replaced with men from other parts of the armed forces. Analysts said that this suggested an attempt to break patronage networks in the unit.
In December, three senior aerospace and defence industry executives were removed from a top CCP advisory body.
Qin Gang, a former foreign minister who has not been seen in public for a year, was also sacked without explanation last year after a brief stint in office.
Xi Jinping, China’s president and head of the military, has made anti-corruption a cornerstone of his leadership since coming to power in 2012. But the numerous purges last year have raised questions about the efficacy of his graft-busting campaign. Some of the senior figures to be axed, such as Li, Wei and Qin, were appointed with Xi’s approval.
People purged from the senior ranks of the CCP may be left to live their remaining years in political and social exile, or they may face harsher criminal penalties. Last month a court sentenced to death Bai Tianhui, a former general manager of China Huarong International Holdings, a bank, for accepting bribes of more than 1.1bn yuan (£110m).
The military purge is thought to be related to an investigation announced last year into corruption in military procurement. Li was head of the equipment procurement department between 2017 and 2022.
The expulsions of Li and Wei will be officially confirmed when the CCP’s central committee has its long-delayed third plenum next month. On Thursday, it was announced that the meeting of top CCP leaders would take place on 15-18 July.
