What China's suspension of top military official could mean, latest in corruption purge | News explained

This week only, the Financial Times also reported that China had put its Defense Minister Dong Jun under investigation over a corruption scandal, citing current and former U.S. officials. While China denied this information, Dong's predecessor Li Shangfu was removed from office in October 2023, after only seven months in office.

Incidentally, Li had replaced Wei Fenghe as defense minister and in June 2024, Li and Wei were expelled from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for corruption.

Here's a look at the suspensions and how analysts interpreted them.

Who is Miao Hua?

Admiral Miao is a member of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the country's most powerful military body. It is described as taking charge of the overall administration of China's armed forces. Former Defense Minister Li Shangfu was also part of the seven-member commission, before his dismissal in 2023.

In the Chinese political system, the Communist Party is the central body around which bureaucracy and politics are organized. Therefore, party positions are more important indicators of an individual's power than government designations.

Miao is also director of the CMC's political work department, responsible for managing party ideology and personnel changes. Officially, the department is committed to party building, describing it as the foundation and cornerstone of the Chinese military. In this regard, Miao is ahead of the current Minister of Defense, who is not a member of the CMC.

South China Morning Post reported that Miao's suspension left the seven-member CMC, chaired by President Xi Jinping, with a rare double vacancy and only two sitting members aside from Xi and the two vice presidents, a situation not seen since decades.

What were the main Miao front suspensions?

In September 2023, reports of the dismissal of then-Defense Minister Li Shangfus began to circulate, after his absence from public view for a few weeks. The same month, Xi Jinping also spoke of the need for a high level of integrity and unity within the military. Some commentators interpreted this as a message against officials suspected of being corrupt.

Earlier in July 2023, it was made official that Xi had signed the promotion of two rocket force commanders. Under the People's Liberation Army (or PLA, the CCP's armed forces), rocket force commanders are in charge of land-based conventional nuclear and ballistic missiles. Wang Houbin and political commissar Xu Xisheng were made generals, the highest rank for active-duty officers in China.

However, the news failed to mention the force's former commanders, General Liu Guangbin and General Li Yuchano. A week later, SCMP said they had been purged or forcibly removed as part of a new anti-corruption campaign. Later that year, nine PLA generals were also removed from the country's legislature.

Similarly, former Defense Minister Wei Fenghe was accused of seriously violating political and organizational discipline by helping others obtain undue advantages in personnel management, according to the official news agency Xinhua.

What could these recent changes mean?

Since becoming China's president in 2013, Xi has purged senior officials accused of corruption. Critics say these accusations were sometimes made to replace officials with people more favorable to him and centralize power in his favor. Xi's ability to easily purge officials proves, in a way, his total control over the system.

On the other hand, many of those purged, including Miao and Li, were considered close to Xi.

James Char, a specialist on Chinese security at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, told the Associated Press Clearly, Xi Jinping's trust in another of his uniformed subordinates was misplaced and if Miao Hua is ultimately found guilty, CMC Chairman (Xi) himself probably did not appreciate the extent of corruption among Chinese military elites.

Christopher Johnson, a former high-level CIA analyst in China, echoed this point in a comment to FTon the investigation against Defense Minister Dong. Xi broke tradition in 2018 by appointing Wei [Fenghe]of the PLA Rocket Forces, at the post [of Defence Minister] instead of an army general. Along with Dong, a navy man, Xi's military staff assured him that the checks were impeccable after four months of research, Johnson said. So Xi wonders which sector of the PLA is not corrupt?

Additionally, China is also experiencing a period of slowed economic growth. Its relations with the West and many of its neighbors, including India, have deteriorated in recent years due to trade imbalances and growing military assertiveness. With this in mind, the rapid withdrawal of senior military officials, including Xi loyalists, could have a further impact on China's impression around the world.