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.
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