BEIJING (Reuters) — The Chinese Communist Party has expelled former Defense Ministers Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe for "serious violations of discipline," a term frequently associated with corruption, state news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday.
Li Shangfu has been implicated in accepting extensive bribes and facilitating undue personnel benefits for himself and others. According to the Communist Party’s Central Committee, which spearheaded the investigation, Li "failed in fulfilling political responsibilities" and compromised the integrity of the party’s mission. The Committee criticized Li for betraying the trust of the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission, adding that his actions inflicted severe damage on both the party and national defense.
This revelation follows an exclusive report by Reuters last year, which disclosed that Li was under investigation for corruption related to military procurement. Li’s sudden removal from the defense minister position in October last year, after a two-month disappearance, raised questions that remained officially unanswered until now. This marks the first explicit confirmation by Chinese authorities of the investigation and specifics regarding Li’s alleged crimes.
China has been undergoing a rigorous anti-corruption campaign within its military framework, highlighted by the purging of eleven People’s Liberation Army (PLA) generals and several aerospace defense industry executives from the national legislative body since last year.
Wei Fenghe, Li’s predecessor, had similarly vanished from the public eye after being replaced in a cabinet reshuffle last March. Wei, who led the strategic PLA Rocket Force between 2015 and 2017, was found in September to have accepted substantial bribes and to have facilitated improper personnel benefits. Xinhua reported that Wei’s infractions were particularly severe, causing significant detrimental impact.
President Xi Jinping, who also serves as the military’s commander-in-chief, undertook a significant restructuring of the Rocket Force last July, appointing new leadership positions to oversee China’s conventional and nuclear missile forces.
The decisions to expel Li and Wei from their party memberships were unanimously approved by the seven-member Politburo, the Communist Party’s highest governing body, on Thursday. Both cases have been transferred to military prosecutors for further action. It is anticipated that these expulsions will be formally ratified during the Party’s Third Plenum, scheduled for July 15-18, where the removals from the Central Committee will be officially declared. Notably, ousted former Foreign Minister Qin Gang remains a member of the Central Committee at present.
Xi Jinping emphasized last week the necessity for the PLA to address "deep-seated" political issues and affirmed that there should be "no hiding place" for corrupt officials.
Xinhua also reported that Li has been stripped of his membership in the national legislative body, following his earlier removal from the Central Military Commission, China’s premier military institution. Wei similarly has been ejected from the legislative body.
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This article has been adapted from its original source, Reuters.
