The purge targeted Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe, and the expulsions coincided with rising tensions with the United States over Taiwan.
China’s ruling Communist Party has expelled former Defense Minister Li Changfu, who was sacked last year, and his predecessor, as part of an anti-corruption campaign, state media reported.
Li, who did not appear in public for nearly two months before being sacked in October 2023, and his predecessor Wei Fenghe were fired for “serious violation of party discipline and the law,” China’s official Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.
Their expulsion from the party comes at a time of growing tension between China and the United States over a range of issues including democratic island Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea.
Xinhua reported that Li’s case has been referred to military prosecutors, which could lead to a trial that could see him sentenced to life in prison.
The announcement came after a meeting of the party’s powerful Politburo of senior leaders to review Li’s status. They decided that Li had “betrayed his original mission and lost the spirit and principles of the party,” according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Li allegedly “seriously polluted the political environment and industrial spirit in the field of military equipment, and seriously damaged the cause of the Party, national defense and construction of the armed forces.”
The former defense minister has also been charged with bribery, and is suspected of “taking advantage of his position and taking huge sums of money to obtain benefits for others… and giving money to others to obtain improper benefits,” according to China Central Television.
Wei, who retired as defense minister in 2023 after five years in office, is accused of accepting money and gifts in violation of rules and using his position to obtain benefits for others and accepting money and valuables in return, Xinhua news agency reported.
Wei’s case has also been referred to military prosecutors.
President Xi Jinping, who is also the party’s leader and leads the armed forces as chairman of the Central Military Commission, has made fighting corruption a hallmark of his rule since taking power more than a decade ago.
Insiders have alleged a sweeping purge of officers suspected of colluding with foreign powers or simply being insufficiently loyal to Xi. Senior officers hold high-ranking positions in Chinese politics and can command wide-ranging privileges. Li was seen as a Xi loyalist.
Chinese media also reported on Thursday that the Communist Party of China will hold its third high-level meeting from July 15 to 18, much later than expected. The meeting will focus on future strategies to boost the world’s second-largest economy as geopolitical tensions mount over tariff hikes by the United States and the European Union.
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