Two former Chinese defence ministers sacked for corruption

Both men were found to have accepted bribes: State media reports

- Yew Lun Tian

China’s ruling Communist Party has sacked two former defence ministers for corruption, a development that revealed how graft had plagued the top brass of Asia’s largest military.

Li Shangfu, whose public disappearance in 2023 had sparked speculation, was found to have accepted bribes, as did his predecessor Wei Fenghe, according to Chinese state media reports on June 27.

Both men had “gravely hurt the work of the party”, the development of defence and the image of senior leaders, said a report by the Central Military Commission (CMC), China’s top military body, in the first official explanation for Li’s sudden removal.

Wei was defence minister from 2018 to 2023, while Li was sacked from his job in October 2023 after just seven months, making him China’s shortest-serving defence minister.

Wei, now 70, previously commanded the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force, created by President Xi Jinping in 2015 to control conventional and nuclear missiles.

China had prided itself on developing intercontinental missiles that could reach the United States and hypersonic missiles capable of evading US defences.