CCP Expels 9 Military Leaders Ahead of Key Meeting
Udumbara
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In a dramatic move on Oct. 17, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) expelled nine high-ranking military leaders and handed them over for investigations on accusations related to corruption and abuse of power, including a top general considered to be a close ally of Party chief Xi Jinping.
He Weidong, a member of the Politburo—the CCP’s second-highest decision-making body—and a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), which exercises the CCP’s control over the armed forces, was stripped of his Party membership and taken down from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), according to a spokesperson for China’s defense ministry.
The announcement makes He the most prominent military figure brought down in the CCP’s decade-long campaign against so-called corruption.
The defense ministry revealed on Oct. 17 that Miao’s deputy, He Hongjun, executive deputy director of the CMC’s Political Work Department, was also ensnared in the anti-graft drive.
These individuals “seriously violated Party discipline” and are “suspected of serious duty-related misconduct, involving an extremely large amount of money,” Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesperson for the defense ministry, said at a briefing in Beijing.
Their offences were “of a grave nature, with extremely detrimental consequences,” Zhang said, according to the official transcript.
All nine had already been expelled from the army, and their cases will be handed to military prosecutors, he added.
The announcement came just days before a key conclave that will gather the CCP’s most senior officials in Beijing.
The focus of the closed-door meeting will be the 15th five-year plan, a blueprint outlining social, economic, and political objectives for the next five years, according to Chinese state media. Personnel reshuffles are also expected to be on the agenda.
The latest announcement “further indicates that Xi Jinping could face a loss of power at the upcoming Fourth Plenum,” said Shen Ming-shih, a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a think tank funded by the Taiwanese government.
If further purges of Xi’s appointees are announced before the conclave, it may suggest increasing pressure for him to step down, Shen, who has been closely monitoring China’s military and political landscape, told The Epoch Times.
“Even if Xi Jinping himself was unaffected, the downfall of so many generals he chose indicates a lack of judgment in personnel decisions,” he noted.
When the military leaders Xi elevated are accused of corruption, Shen said, “the responsibility ultimately lies with Xi Jinping.”
