BEIJING: China's second-highest ranking general and eight other senior officials were expelled from the ruling Communist Party and the military on suspicion of serious official misconduct linked to corruption, the Defense Ministry said on Friday.
The ministry's spokesperson, Zhang Xiaogang, alleged in a statement that He Weidong, vice-chair of the powerful Central Military Commission, and the eight others under investigation had seriously violated the party's discipline and that their misconduct involved large sums of money.
He was the most senior military official to be targeted in the latest anti-graft drive against the Chinese military leadership so far.
He, who was elevated to the Central Military Commission in 2022, has not been seen in public for months. He was formerly head of the Eastern Theater Command, which holds primary responsibility for operations against Taiwan should hostilities break out.
The eight other officials included the commission's director of the political work department, Miao Hua, who was already put under investigation last November. “(The offenses) were of grave nature, with extremely harmful consequences,” Zhang said.
The announcement came just days before Chinese President Xi Jinping and other party elites are to meet in Beijing for a closed-door gathering known as the fourth plenum to map out the country's goals for the next five years.
In Xi’s first term as party secretary, his multiyear campaign against corruption brought down numerous high-profile political rivals and thousands of officials.
This has led some to allege a widespread purge of officers suspected of conspiring with outside forces, or of simply being insufficiently loyal to Xi as the Chinese leader's anti-corruption campaign has continued.
High-ranking officers occupy an elevated position in Chinese politics and can command extensive privileges, official and unofficial.
In June last year, China announced that former Defense Minister Li Shangfu and his predecessor Wei Fenghe were expelled from the ruling Communist Party and accused of corruption.