Former Chinese defense minister Li Shangfu has been dismissed from the ruling Communist Party for causing “great damage to (its) cause” through transgressions such as bribery, state media said on Thursday.
After a protracted period out of the public eye, Li was removed from office in October 2023 after just seven months in the position. This was one of the most notable cases of a string of high-profile disappearances from China’s political class and military establishment.
In a different report on Thursday, Wei Fenghe, Li’s predecessor, had also been kicked out of the party and turned over to the prosecution due to allegations of corruption.
Since taking office over a decade ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping has launched an unwavering campaign against official corruption.
Proponents claim the campaign promotes clean government, but critics think it also allows Mr Xi to cleanse political enemies.
According to CCTV, the Communist Party’s powerful Politburo of senior leaders concluded that Li had “betrayed his original mission and lost his party spirit and principles”.
Li is suspected of bribery, accused of abusing his position to take “huge sums of money” in return for favours and of bribing others.
He also “illegally sought personnel benefits for himself and others”, CCTV said, adding “the nature (of his offences) is extremely severe, their impact was particularly egregious, and the harm from them was particularly huge”.
Li’s months-long disappearance from public view in 2023 sparked rumours about his political future.
He had travelled to a security conference in Russia in August and days later held a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, according to handout photos.
However, he then vanished for several months until his removal was confirmed in October.
His sacking followed the dramatic ouster of foreign minister Qin Gang in June 2023.
Qin’s whereabouts and condition remain unknown, and Beijing’s foreign ministry again declined to answer a question about him this week.
Mr Xi last week repeated his vow to crack down on graft in the armed forces during an address to a meeting of the Central Military Commission.
He urged China’s top brass to “eradicate the soil and conditions in which corruption thrives (and) expand the depth and breadth of the anti-corruption struggle”, state media reported.
Mr. Xi also urged the military to “strengthen the overall supervision of senior cadres in carrying out their duties and using their powers.”
China and its neighboring neighbors have clashed in recent months over territory claims in the fiercely contested South China Sea.
China has also conducted war simulations around Taiwan, a self-governing island that it claims as part of its sovereignty and has pledged to seize one day, by force if necessary.
Mr Xi stated that China’s army must “always dare to fight and win,” noting that “the situation in the world, country, party, and army is undergoing complex and profound changes.”
