Government Expels Top Military Officials In Major Anti-Corruption Crackdown
Government Expels Top Military Officials In Major Anti-Corruption Crackdown
The dismissal of He and the CMC’s former political commissar, Miao Hua, was announced on Friday, alongside seven other senior military officials.
President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive in China has intensified, with the country expelling two of its highest-ranking military officials from the Communist Party, including a member of the Politburo.
He Weidong, one of the two vice-chairs of the Central Military Commission (CMC) led by Xi, was found to have violated party disciplines and laws, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Defence, Bloomberg reports.
He is the first Politburo member to be removed since former Chongqing party chief Sun Zhengcai was probed in 2017.
The dismissal of He and the CMC’s former political commissar, Miao Hua, was announced on Friday, alongside seven other senior military officials.
The move comes just days before the fourth plenum, where top Communist Party leaders will convene in Beijing to discuss economic reforms and leadership changes.
According to the Defence Ministry, the officials were accused of “serious violations of party discipline” and “suspected of grave duty-related crimes, involving exceptionally large sums of money.”
The statement added, “The nature of their offenses is extremely serious, and the impact is profoundly detrimental.”
The shake-up marks another phase in a sweeping purge that began when Xi removed top officers in the Rocket Force over corruption allegations linked to weakened missile capabilities.
Since then, the anti-graft campaign has led to the removal of more than a dozen senior figures, including two former defence ministers and senior officers in the aerospace and missile divisions.
The widening purge has become China’s most extensive military clean-up since Mao Zedong’s rule ended in 1976, indicating that corruption has deeply penetrated the People’s Liberation Army.
Analysts believe replacements for He and Miao will likely be announced during next week’s party conclave in Beijing.
Bloomberg analysis shows Xi Jinping has now ousted nearly a fifth of the generals he appointed, making it the largest military purge since Mao, with far-reaching implications for China’s internal and global posture.
The probe also makes He the first uniformed vice military chair to be expelled since He Long in 1967.
He was last seen in public on March 11 at the closing ceremony of the National People’s Congress in Beijing. He missed a traditional tree-planting event in early April, usually attended by vice military chairs.
