China's Former Defense Ministers Sentenced to Death — A Purge Without Precedent

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Two Top Generals Face the Ultimate Penalty

China sentenced two of its former defense ministers to death on Thursday, May 7, 2026 — a dramatic escalation in a years-long campaign to root out corruption inside the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu, both once among the most powerful figures in Chinese national security, were found guilty of bribery by a military court and handed death sentences with a two-year reprieve.

Under Chinese law, a death sentence with reprieve is almost always converted to life imprisonment once the reprieve period ends without further offenses. In this case, Xinhua — China's official state news agency — confirmed that neither man will be eligible for further reduction of sentence or parole. In practical terms, both will spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

The sentences also include deprivation of all political rights and the confiscation of all personal property.

Who Are Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu?

Wei Fenghe served as China's Minister of National Defense from 2018 to 2023. Before that, he commanded the PLA Rocket Force — the branch responsible for both nuclear warheads and conventional ballistic missiles. He was among the most senior military figures in the country and a former member of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the body that oversees all of China's armed forces.

Li Shangfu succeeded Wei as defense minister in March 2023, but his tenure was unusually brief. He vanished from public view just months into the job and was officially sacked in October 2023 — no explanation was given at the time. He holds the distinction of being China's shortest-serving defense minister.

A military court found Wei guilty of accepting bribes, while Li was convicted of both accepting and offering bribes. The statement published by Xinhua did not specify the amounts of money involved.

Both men had already been expelled from the Communist Party in June 2024 for what the party called "serious violations of discipline" — a standard euphemism for corruption.

The Heaviest Sentences Yet

The verdicts mark the most severe punishments handed down to senior military officers since Xi Jinping launched his anti-corruption drive in 2012.

Xi has long positioned the crackdown as a bid to modernize and cleanse the PLA, but critics and analysts increasingly argue it is just as much about ensuring absolute loyalty to Xi himself. The purge began in earnest after Xi came to power and has expanded steadily ever since.

The Rocket Force — the nuclear-armed branch both men were once closely connected to — became a particular focus in 2023, when its entire leadership was swept out in a single wave of investigations. Allegations of faulty missile components, bribery in procurement, and falsified readiness reports reportedly shocked senior leadership.

A Purge That Keeps Spreading

The sentencing of Wei and Li is the latest chapter in a military purge that has grown to historic proportions. In January 2026, China's Ministry of National Defense announced that General Zhang Youxia — until then the PLA's most senior officer and a longtime ally of Xi — had been placed under investigation, along with the chief of the Joint Staff Department, Liu Zhenli.

Since 2022, over 100 senior PLA officers from virtually all areas of the armed forces have been swept aside or gone missing — an unprecedented purge by any historical measure.

The crackdown has reduced China's seven-member supreme military command body — the CMC — to a committee of just two people: Xi himself and a newly promoted vice chairman, Zhang Shengmin.

Alarm Bells From Defence Analysts

The scale of the purge is now raising serious concerns about China's military effectiveness. The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), one of the world's leading defence research organizations, issued a stark warning in its annual Military Balance report in February 2026.

"From an organisational perspective, until the vacancies are filled, the PLA is operating with serious deficiencies in its command structure," the IISS stated.

With 56 deputy theater commanders purged, the pool of officers able to take command of one of the military's five theater commands has been reduced by more than a third. Those who remain are largely untested officers with no combat experience.

One core problem analysts highlight is whether Xi will now receive honest assessments from newly promoted officers. If senior generals were removed partly for expressing realistic doubts about military readiness, their successors have strong incentives to simply tell Xi what he wants to hear.

A Pattern With No End in Sight

The verdicts against Wei and Li signal that no rank — however senior — offers protection from prosecution. Both men operated at the very top of the military establishment, attended Politburo meetings, and were among the faces of Chinese military diplomacy abroad.

The massive scale of the purges has probably set back Xi's own modernization agenda, as key positions sit vacant or are filled by less experienced officers. Experts note the paradox: a crackdown intended to make the PLA stronger may, at least in the short term, be making it weaker.

Whether the campaign will continue to escalate — or whether the sentencing of two former defense ministers marks some kind of peak — remains to be seen. What is clear is that Xi Jinping shows no signs of stopping.

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Sources:

1. South China Morning Post – Sentencing report: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3352764/2-former-chinese-defence-ministers-given-death-sentence-reprieve
2. Reuters – Military purge and command readiness (IISS): https://bluewaterhealthyliving.com/news/world-news/china-military-purge-taking-toll-on-command-and-readiness-study-finds/
3. CSIS – Assessing Xi's Unprecedented Purges of China's Military: https://www.csis.org/analysis/assessing-xis-unprecedented-purges-chinas-military-key-developments-and-potential
4. The Diplomat – The Purge of Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli: https://thediplomat.com/2026/01/the-purge-of-zhang-youxia-and-liu-zhenli-why-and-whats-next-for-chinas-military/
5. Foreign Policy – What to Know About China's Latest Military Purge: https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/01/27/china-military-purge-generals-pla-xi-jinping-zhang-youxia-liu-zhenli/
6. Xinhua (official verdict statement): https://english.news.cn/20260507/83586d8ffcc1457c8f32d0759a9cbcaf/c.html

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