A top Chinese official in Beijing’s secretive Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force has been placed under investigation for corruption, Chinese state media said, deepening a crackdown on alleged graft in the military.
PLA Rocket Force Chief of Staff Sun Jinming (孫金明) was kicked out of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and is under investigation for “grave violations of party discipline and laws,” Xinhua said on Thursday, using a common euphemism for graft.
The news came in a communique issued to mark the end of the CCP’s Third Plenum, which began on Monday and ended on Thursday.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Beijing also confirmed that former PLA Rocket Force commander Li Yuchao (李玉超) had been expelled from the party and stood accused of “grave violations of discipline.”
Thursday’s readout marked the first time that the investigation into Sun, appointed chief of staff of the Rocket Force in 2022, had been made public.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has launched an aggressive, wide-ranging anti-graft campaign since coming to power.
In the past year, the campaign has turned its attention to the secretive Rocket Force, the army unit that oversees Beijing’s nuclear arsenal.
Its head, Li, was replaced in July last year.
Former Chinese minister of national defense Li Shangfu (李尚福) was ousted last year after only seven months as defense minister following a lengthy absence from public view.
He was later expelled from the CCP for causing “great damage to [its] cause” through offenses including suspected bribery.
Other disgraced generals include Wei Fenghe (魏鳳和), who once headed the Rocket Force and who later became China’s defence minister from 2018 to last year.
Chinese state broadcaster China Central Television last month said that Wei had been expelled from the party and passed on to prosecutors over alleged corruption.
The Rocket Force is a relatively new unit of the Chinese military.
Its creation was announced after a major reorganization of China’s military structure.
It oversees China’s arsenal of strategic missiles, both conventional and nuclear, and can both deter and strike, according to the Chinese government.
END OF AN ERA: The vote brings the curtain down on 20 years of socialist rule, which began in 2005 when Evo Morales, an indigenous coca farmer, was elected president A center-right senator and a right-wing former president are to advance to a run-off for Bolivia’s presidency after the first round of elections on Sunday, marking the end of two decades of leftist rule, preliminary official results showed. Bolivian Senator Rodrigo Paz was the surprise front-runner, with 32.15 percent of the vote cast in an election dominated by a deep economic crisis, results published by the electoral commission showed. He was followed by former Bolivian president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga in second with 26.87 percent, according to results based on 92 percent of votes cast. Millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who had been tipped
ELECTION DISTRACTION? When attention shifted away from the fight against the militants to politics, losses and setbacks in the battlefield increased, an analyst said Recent clashes in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Jubaland region are alarming experts, exposing cracks in the country’s federal system and creating an opening for militant group al-Shabaab to gain ground. Following years of conflict, Somalia is a loose federation of five semi-autonomous member states — Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle and South West — that maintain often fractious relations with the central government in the capital, Mogadishu. However, ahead of elections next year, Somalia has sought to assert control over its member states, which security analysts said has created gaps for al-Shabaab infiltration. Last week, two Somalian soldiers were killed in clashes between pro-government forces and
Ten cheetah cubs held in captivity since birth and destined for international wildlife trade markets have been rescued in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia. They were all in stable condition despite all of them having been undernourished and limping due to being tied in captivity for months, said Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, which is caring for the cubs. One eight-month-old cub was unable to walk after been tied up for six months, while a five-month-old was “very malnourished [a bag of bones], with sores all over her body and full of botfly maggots which are under the
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability
RSS