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President Xi Jinping has purged the number-two general in the People’s Liberation Army, in the most dramatic act of his military anti-corruption campaign and first firing of a general in that role in six decades.
General He Weidong, the junior of two vice-chairs of the six-member Central Military Commission, which is led by Xi, was removed from his post in recent weeks, according to five people familiar with the matter.
As well as his role as the PLA’s second-ranked officer, He Weidong is third in command of the Chinese military and a member of the Communist party’s Politburo. His removal is the latest in a long line of officers Xi has purged from office for alleged corruption.
He Weidong’s dismissal comes six months after Xi suspended Miao Hua, one of six top officers in the CMC, for “serious violations of discipline” — a phrase that usually refers to corruption in the Chinese military system.
But He Weidong’s seniority makes his removal far more serious than the suspension of Miao. Three of the sources familiar with his ousting said it was related to alleged corruption.
Speculation had risen about He Weidong’s fate in recent weeks when he was absent from events that a CMC vice-chair would normally attend. He Weidong was not present at a recent Politburo bureau meeting on Chinese diplomacy that was attended by Zhang Youxia, the other CMC vice-chair.
The previous week, He Weidong did not take part in a high-profile annual tree-planting ceremony led by Xi that the army general had joined last year.
Five of the people familiar with the situation, which include current and former US officials, said He Weidong had been purged. A sixth person simply confirmed that the general was no longer in the role. One of the people said He Weidong was being interrogated by the authorities since his detention.
Neil Thomas, an expert on elite Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said He Weidong’s purge would be the first of a uniformed vice-chair of the CMC since General He Long in 1967.
“The fact that Xi Jinping can purge a CMC vice-chair shows how serious he is about stamping out corruption in the military,” said Thomas. “Xi wants to turn the PLA into an effective fighting force beyond China’s borders but also into a complete servant to his domestic agenda.”
Thomas added that the PLA was “the fundamental guarantor of the party rule inside China and is especially important at times of high domestic uncertainly like economic shocks from the US-China trade war”.
Over the past two years, Xi has removed the two heads of the PLA Rocket Force, which is partly responsible for overseeing China’s nuclear arsenal.
Xi has also purged two Chinese defence ministers, Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu in the past two years. In China’s system, the defence minister plays more of a diplomatic role and is less powerful than the military leaders on the CMC. Xi also fired Qin Gang, a former close aide, as foreign minister.
The Financial Times reported last year that Dong Jun had also been fired as defence minister. But two people familiar with his case said he had undergone an initial investigation but appeared to have been cleared. Dong this week met the chief of the Pakistani air force in Beijing.
The Chinese defence ministry and foreign ministry have been approached for comment.
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