Chinese Former Defense Minister: As part of a campaign against corruption, the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has expelled former Defense Minister Li Shangfu and his predecessor, according to official media. Shangfu was fired last year after going AWOL.
The official news agency Xinhua said on Thursday that Li and his predecessor Wei Fenghe had been expelled for “serious violations of party discipline and the law.” The purge coincided with a mounting US-China conflict over the fate of Taiwan.
Having only served for a few months, Li disappeared from public view for about two months before being sacked from office in October 2023. Xinhua claims that military prosecutors have been assigned to handle his matter, so a trial could bring him a life sentence.
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To discuss Li’s situation, the party’s influential Politburo of senior leaders got together on Thursday. According to state channel CCTV, they decided that Li had “betrayed his original mission and lost his party spirit and principles.”
According to Aljazeera, Li is accused of having “seriously polluted the political environment and industrial ethos in the field of military equipment, and caused great damage to the party’s cause, national defence and the construction of the armed forces”.
The former defence minister was also accused of bribery, suspected of “taking advantage of his position and taking huge sums of money to seek benefits for others … and giving money to others to seek inappropriate benefits”, said CCTV.
Wei was accused of taking advantage of his position to seek benefits for others and collecting gifts and money in exchange, according to Xinhua. Wei departed from his position as defense minister in 2023 after serving for five years.
Military prosecutors have also been tasked with handling Wei’s case.
Since assuming office more than ten years ago, President Xi Jinping, who is also the party’s leader and serves as the chairman of the Central Military Commission, has made combating corruption a defining feature of his administration.
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Insiders have claimed a broad cleansing of staff members allegedly either excessively devoted to Xi or engaged in foreign policy planning. High-ranking officials in Chinese politics have a privileged position and may receive great advantages.
The CCP is supposed to hold a much-awaited conference on July 15–18, considerably later than expected as world tensions over US and European Union tariff increases grow. Future policies meant to expand the second-biggest economy in the world should take the front stage in the conversation.
