(TibetanReview.net, Jun27’26) – The military remains a primary target of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive and under it six senior People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officers have been removed from the country’s top legislative body in the latest episode. A late-night notice issued by the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee on Jun 26 said 13 members of the legislature had been removed and one had resigned, reported the scmp.com Jun 27.
While the NPC does not weild any power, as its role is to rubber-stamp party decisions every time, it is theoretically the country’s top lawmaking body and its membership is a matter of prestige and status in the country’s ruling echelon.
There had already been indications that some of the dismissed PLA commanders were under investigation, the report noted.
One of them, Lieutenant General Yin Hongxing, the political commissar of the Tibet Military Command, was missing when Xi carried out a surprise inspection in the western region last August.
General Xu Xueqiang, from the Central Military Commission’s Equipment Development Department, had missed a major party meeting in October.
And while Lieutenant General Wang Kangping, from the Eastern Theatre Command, did attend the meeting, he was passed over for promotion to full membership of the party’s Central Committee, the report noted.
The other three commanders removed on Jun 26 were stated to be General Li Fengbiao, the political commissar of the Western Theatre Command; General Guo Puxiao, the political commissar of the air force; and Lieutenant General Zhang Minghua, from the cyberspace force.
The military anti-corruption drive has already brought down dozens of senior commanders, including members of the Politburo. While some have been placed under investigation for corruption, others have disappeared from public view without explanation, the report said.
As of now, of the seven members of the Central Military Commission named at the party’s national congress in 2022, only two remain – Xi and the PLA’s anti-corruption chief, Zhang Shengmin.
The development is in keeping with Xi’s stress on multiple occasions that the anti-corruption fight in the military will not stop.
“The armed forces wield the gun. There must never be room in the military for those half-hearted towards the party, nor any sanctuary for the corrupt,” he was stated to have told the annual meeting of the NPC and China’s top political advisory body in March.
The other legislators removed were stated to include Ma Xingrui, a former member of the Politburo and party boss of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, and his protege Guo Yonghang, the former Guangzhou party secretary.