The Chinese Communist Party confirmed on Thursday the expulsion of 14 senior civil and military officials in what is the largest anti-corruption purge since 2017, as it closed a key meeting to discuss the five-year economic development plan.
The decision, announced on the final day of the Fourth Plenum of the Central Committee in Beijing, formalized the expulsions of nine top military officials announced last week and added at least five civilian officials. The Party also appointed veteran general Zhang Shengmin as the No. 2 official on the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), replacing He Weidong, who was ousted on corruption charges.
Thursday's statement said the Central Committee expelled 11 of its members, the largest turnover at a single meeting since the Seventh Plenum in 2017. Eight of the nine military officials dismissed last week were Central Committee members, meaning at least three civilian officials have been added to the expelled list.
He Weidong, vice chairman of the CMC and a member of the 24-member Politburo, is the highest-ranking military official to be affected. He had not been seen in public since March. He is the first sitting Politburo member to face a corruption investigation and the first serving CMC general to be ousted since the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution. He previously led the Eastern Theater Command, responsible for operations against Taiwan.
Miao Hua, an admiral and director of the CMC’s political work department, had disappeared from public view in November 2024. He was removed from the CMC last June. He last attended the 70th anniversary celebrations of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in October last year.
Both He Weidong and Miao Hua belonged to the so-called “Fujian faction” of the PLA. President Xi served in Fujian between 1985 and 2002 and was likely familiar with both of them. They served in the 31st Group Army (now renamed the 73rd Group Army) deployed in the region, and observers noted that they were beneficiaries of rapid promotions within the PLA and the Communist Party.
The other expelled members are He Hongjun, deputy executive director of the CMC's Political Work Department, who worked under Miao Hua.
Wang Xiubin, executive deputy director of the Joint Operations Command Center of the CMC, personally led by President Xi Jinping. He previously headed the Southern Theater Command covering the South China Sea.
Lin Xiangyang, commander of the Eastern Theater Command of thePeople's Liberation Army (PLA ).
Qin Shutong, political commissar of the PLA.
Yuan Huazhi, political commissar of the PLA Navy.
Wang Houbin, commander of the PLA Rocket Force. He had been appointed to replace previously purged officers in that strategic unit.
Wang Chunning, commander of the People's Armed Police Force.
The Ministry of Defense announced last Friday that the nine military officials were charged with “seriously violating Party discipline” and suspected of “serious duty-related crimes involving an extremely large amount of money, of an extremely serious nature, and with extremely harmful consequences,” according to spokesman Col. Zhang Xiaogang. Their cases have been transferred to military prosecutors for review and prosecution.
The five expelled civil servants
The Party confirmed this Thursday the expulsion of five additional civil servants, some of whose cases had not been previously revealed:
Tang Renjian, a former official whose specific position was not detailed in official documents.
Jin Xiangjun, member of the Central Committee.
Li Shisong, Yang Fasen and Zhu Zhisong, three Central Committee officials whose specific positions were not revealed in the official statement.
New appointment
Zhang Shengmin, 67, has been promoted to vice chairman of the Central Military Committee. The veteran general from northern Shaanxi province had a long career in political work, serving for years in the Second Artillery Force, now the LPP Rocket Force. He is also deputy secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China's top anti-corruption body.
The purge leaves the CMC with just four members, including President Xi Jinping, instead of the usual six plus the chairman.
Since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, anti-corruption campaigns have become his signature policy. More than six million officials have been punished for corruption and misconduct, according to reports. Analysts note that while these campaigns are popular with the public, they have also been used to enforce loyalty to Xi among party and government officials.
Neil Thomas, a China policy expert at the Asia Society Policy Institute, told the AP that the purges are designed to project strength. “In their view, eliminating corrupt or disloyal cadres is the Party’s ‘self-revolution’ into a clean, disciplined, and effective organization capable of governing indefinitely,” Thomas said.
