28-6-2024 (BEIJING) In an unprecedented move that has sent shockwaves through China’s military establishment, Beijing has announced corruption investigations into two former defence ministers, Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu. The announcement, made by the state news agency Xinhua following a meeting of the Communist Party’s 24-member Politburo on Thursday, also revealed that both Wei and Li have been expelled from the party.
The investigations into the two former top military leaders mark a significant escalation in President Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign, which has targeted the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as a major focus. This is the first time in the history of the PLA that corruption probes into two former defence ministers have been made public simultaneously.
According to the Xinhua report, the investigation into Li Shangfu began on August 31 and concluded that he had accepted “large sums of money” in exchange for seeking benefits for others. Additionally, he was found to have engaged in bribery. Li’s abrupt dismissal in October last year, just seven months after assuming the role of defence minister, had raised eyebrows and fueled speculation about potential misconduct.
Wei Fenghe, who served as defence minister from 2018 to 2023, came under investigation on September 21. The report accused him of accepting unauthorized gifts and substantial amounts of money in return for using his power to obtain benefits for others, though he was not accused of taking bribes directly.
The investigations have also uncovered evidence of other potential “serious disciplinary and criminal offences” committed by the two men, according to the statement, although no further details were provided. Both Wei and Li are expected to face criminal prosecution as a result of the probes.
The military has been a major target of Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign, and Beijing has boasted that more Chinese generals have fallen in this campaign than were killed in decades of war in the 20th century. Chinese defence ministers, however, play a different role from their foreign counterparts, primarily serving as military diplomats with limited command power and a relatively low rank in the party’s Central Military Commission, headed by Xi.
The report used unusually harsh language to describe the actions of Wei and Li, accusing Wei of experiencing “a collapse of faith and a loss of loyalty” and “seriously polluting the political ecosystem of the PLA.” Li, on the other hand, was accused of “abandoning the original mission and losing the principles of the party” and “seriously contaminating the PLA’s military equipment industry.”
The report stated that their actions “betrayed the trust of the party’s central leadership and the CMC… and caused great damage to the party’s cause, national defence and the construction of the PLA, as well as to the image of the senior leading cadres.” It described their conduct as “of an extremely serious nature, with an extremely bad impact and extremely great harm.”
Wei and Li are the latest in a string of senior PLA officers to be brought down in the ongoing anti-graft campaign. In December, nine generals, including previous and serving commanders from the PLA Rocket Force and the air force, as well as several Central Military Commission officials from the Equipment Development Department, were dismissed from the National People’s Congress.
