China’s Defence Ministry announced on Friday that the country’s second-ranked military general, He Weidong, along with eight other high-ranking military commanders, have been expelled from the ruling Communist Party (CPC) and removed from the army.
He Weidong, 68, served as the Vice-Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and was also a member of the 24-member Politburo, according to state media reports.
In addition to He, Miao Hua, another CMC member, has also been expelled from both the Communist Party and military service.
According to a report by the official Xinhua news agency, Defence Ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang stated that seven other former senior military officials have also been dismissed from the CPC and military positions.
The announcement comes just days before the Communist Party’s Central Committee is scheduled to convene its Fourth Plenum in Beijing.
Citing Reuters, this marks the first removal of a sitting general from the Central Military Commission since the 1966–1976 Cultural Revolution. He Weidong has not appeared in public since March, and prior to Friday’s announcement, Chinese authorities had not disclosed any investigation into his activities.
Xinhua quoted Zhang Xiaogang as saying that all nine senior military officials had been investigated and punished following internal probes.
“The investigations found that these individuals had seriously violated Party discipline and are suspected of major duty-related crimes,” Zhang said. “Their violations involved exceptionally large sums of money, were of an extremely serious nature, and had extremely negative impacts.”
According to Zhang, the cases related to their suspected crimes will be transferred to military prosecution authorities for legal review and prosecution.
He further stated that the expulsion of eight of the nine individuals from the Communist Party will be confirmed by the CPC Central Committee when it convenes its upcoming plenary session.
