BEIJING: Two top Chinese military leaders have been expelled from the ruling Communist Party and the military on corruption charges, the country’s defence ministry said on Friday (Oct 17), the most senior officers to be purged in an anti-graft drive that began in 2023.
He Weidong, China’s number two general, and navy admiral Miao Hua, the Chinese military’s former top political officer, are the latest senior military officials to be targeted in a campaign against corruption in the People’s Liberation Army.
He’s removal is the first of a sitting general on the Central Military Commission since the 1966 to 1976 Cultural Revolution. He has not been seen in public since March, but the investigation of his activities had not previously been disclosed by Chinese authorities.
PRESIDENT XI “CLEANING HOUSE”, SAYS ANALYST
He, Miao and seven other senior military officials named in the announcement “seriously violated party discipline and are suspected of serious duty-related crimes involving an extremely large amount of money”, defence ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang said.
Their offences were “of a grave nature, with extremely detrimental consequences”, the statement added, calling it a “significant achievement in the Party and military’s anti-corruption campaign”.
The expulsion of He, 68, has implications beyond the military, as he also sat on the 24-member Politburo, the ruling Communist Party’s second-highest echelon of power.
One of two vice-chairmen of the commission, the general is the third-most powerful commander of the People’s Liberation Army and has been considered a close associate of President Xi Jinping, the army’s commander-in-chief.
The announcement came just days before the Communist Party’s Central Committee, an elite body of 200-plus senior officials, is due to hold its fourth plenum in Beijing. More personnel decisions, such as the expulsion of Central Committee members, are expected to be formalised at the meeting.
“Xi is cleaning house for sure. The formal removal of He and Miao means he will get to appoint new members of the Central Military Commission – which has been virtually half empty since March – at the Plenum,” said Wen-Ti Sung, a fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub.
Miao was removed from the Central Military Commission in June after being put under investigation for “serious violations of discipline” last November.
Source: CNA
