China: Senior military official suspended amid anti-corruption campaign

A senior Chinese military official has been dismissed from his post over suspicions of “serious disciplinary violations,” officials said Thursday, the latest in a sweeping crackdown on corruption in the armed forces.

The Chinese Communist Party “has decided to suspend Miao Hua from his duties pending investigation,” Wu Qian, a spokesman for China's defense ministry, told a news conference.

The charges against Miao Hua, a member of the powerful Central Military Commission known to be close to President Xi Jinping, were not specified. But “serious violation of discipline” is a euphemism regularly used by Chinese leaders to describe corruption.

Since coming to power in late 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping has been leading a vast anti-corruption campaign, which has extended to the army. While its supporters see it as a tool for good governance, its detractors believe that it is used to eliminate its political rivals.

Since the summer of 2023, nearly 20 military and defense industry officials have been removed from their positions, including the last two defense ministers.

Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun (c) on September 13, 2024 in Beijing © AFP – ADEK BERRY

On Wednesday, the British newspaper Financial Times even claimed that Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun himself had been dismissed from his post due to a corruption investigation, after his two predecessors were suspended for similar acts.

The military spokesman denied the reports, calling them “pure fabrications.”

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“These rumor mongers are ill-intentioned. China expresses its strong dissatisfaction with this slanderous behavior,” Wu Qian castigated.

“The two cases are not necessarily linked,” but they illustrate “the persistence and resilience of corruption and discipline problems” in the military despite “the considerable efforts made by Xi Jinping,” Dylan Loh, an assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University, told AFP.

– “Fierce” competition –

According to US officials cited by Bloomberg, the intensity of this campaign is partly motivated by the fear that this corruption could affect China's ability to conduct a potential war.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on November 18, 2024 in Rio de Janeiro © AFP – Mauro PIMENTEL

During a review of air force units in central Hubei province earlier this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for eliminating corruption and “strengthening combat readiness.”

These successive layoffs come against a backdrop of intensifying Chinese military pressure on Taiwan and around territories it claims in the South China Sea.

On Thursday, China vowed to “resolutely crush” any attempt at independence by Taiwan, which is outside the control of the Communist Party.

Analysts say corruption in the military could call into question the combat readiness of the Chinese military.

“Corruption in the Chinese military rightly raises questions about its ability to achieve its military goals and complete the 'great renewal' sought by Xi Jinping,” Heather Williams of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a US think tank, told AFP.

But according to Victor Shih, a politician and expert on China's ruling elite, “competition for top positions is so fierce that there could be mutual blame among officers, leading to endless cycles of arrests, new appointments and accusations.”

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