 "The ‘fusion-centric warfare’ that China demonstrated using terrorists, ISI and Pakistan armed forces as a front is a clear demonstration of its cynical prowess. Reuters")
In the latest move in the ongoing purge, China’s second-ranking military general, He Weidong, along with another top military official, Miao Hua, has been expelled from the Communist Party and the army as part of an anti-corruption investigation, the Ministry of National Defence announced on Friday.
He, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and a member of the 24-member Politburo, is the first serving Politburo member to face such a probe.
Along with him, the army’s top political officer, Miao Hua, was expelled for “serious violations of discipline and law,” the ministry said.
The purge is part of an ongoing anti-corruption campaign targeting the leadership of the People’s Liberation Army since 2023. He is also the third CMC member to be removed since the current line-up took office in 2022.
The CMC, chaired by President Xi Jinping, is China’s highest military authority. Of the seven members appointed at the 20th Party Congress in 2022, only four remain: Xi, vice-chairman Zhang Youxia, Liu Zhenli, head of the Joint Staff Department, and Zhang Shengmin, who leads the military’s discipline inspection commission.
Officials said the removals mark a level of turnover in the military’s top ranks not seen in decades.
He Weidong’s removal marks the first time a sitting general on the Central Military Commission has been expelled since the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). He has not been seen in public since March, and Chinese authorities had not previously disclosed the investigation into his activities.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsDefence ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang said He, Miao Hua, and seven other senior military officials “seriously violated Party discipline and are suspected of serious duty-related crimes involving an extremely large amount of money.” The ministry added that their offences were “of a grave nature, with extremely detrimental consequences.”
He, 68, held a seat on the 24-member Politburo, the Communist Party’s second-highest body, making his expulsion significant beyond the military. As one of the two vice-chairmen of the CMC, he was the third-most powerful commander in the People’s Liberation Army and considered a close associate of President Xi Jinping.
The announcement came just days before the Communist Party’s Central Committee, comprising more than 200 senior officials, is set to hold its Fourth Plenum in Beijing, where further personnel decisions, including expulsions, are expected to be formalised.
Miao Hua had been removed from the Central Military Commission in June, following an investigation into “serious violations of discipline” that began last November.