(TibetanReview.net, Nov28’24) –A day after dismissing report that its defence minister Dong Jun was under investigation for corruption, China has said Nov 28 that one of its top generals has been placed under investigation for suspected “serious violations of discipline”.
Miao Hua, one of the top generals at China’s powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), has been placed under investigation for suspected “serious violations of discipline”, reported the scmp.com and international news agencies Nov 28, citing the country’s defence ministry.
Miao, the director of the political work department of the CMC, which oversees China’s People’s Liberation Army, has been suspended from duty, the ministry has said.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party “has decided to suspend Miao Hua from duty pending investigation”, the AFP Nov 28 quoted Wu Qian, a spokesman for China’s defence ministry, as saying at a press briefing.
“Serious violations of discipline” are commonly used by officials in China as a euphemism for corruption.
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Miao, 69, has not been seen in public after Oct 7, when he attended the 70th anniversary celebrations of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a state-run paramilitary organization in the Uygur autonomous region.
He had, from 2010 to 2014, worked in the western Lanzhou Military Region, later renamed as the Western Theatre Command, which oversees troops in regions including Tibet and Xinjiang.
He also served as political commissar or head of party work in this military region. He was transferred to the PLA Navy as political commissar in Dec 2014 and spent almost three years there.
In 2015, Miao was promoted to become the youngest serving PLA admiral.
He has been director of the CMC’s political work department and a member of the commission since 2017.
Beijing has deepened a crackdown on alleged graft in the armed forces over the past year, with President Xi Jinping this month ordering the military to stamp out corruption and strengthen its “war-preparedness”.
The intensity of the anti-graft drive in the military has been partially driven by fears that it may affect China’s ability to wage a future war, Bloomberg reported, citing US officials this year.
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The announcement that Miao was under investigation for corruption came a day after the Financial Times (London) reported that Defence Minister Dong was under investigation for alleged corruption.
But China’s foreign ministry dismissed that report as “groundless”, while its defence ministry described it as a “sheer fabrication”, the scmp.com report noted.
Besides, when asked at a daily press briefing about the report, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said it was “chasing shadows”, noted Reuters Nov 28.
Dong last week declined to meet US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during a meeting of defence ministers in Laos citing US actions over Taiwan.
The suggestion that Dong was being investigated for corruption had come from two US officials while one of them had urged caution, said the Reuters report.
A former navy commander, Dong, 63, was appointed defence minister in Dec 2023 following the surprise removal of his predecessor Li Shangfu just seven months into the job.
Li was later expelled from the Communist Party for offences including suspected bribery, and has not been seen in public since.
His predecessor, Wei Fenghe, was also kicked out of the party and passed on to prosecutors over alleged corruption.
China’s defence minister has traditionally been a member of both the CMC, which is headed by Xi, and the State Council, China’s cabinet-level executive body.
But Dong was not promoted to the six-member CMC, China’s highest-level military body, during a major Communist Party plenum earlier this year, where personnel reshuffles would normally be announced.
He was not appointed to the State Council either during a government reshuffle in March, continued the Reuters report.
All this adds to the uncertainty about Dong’s fate.